BRATTLEBORO — A batch of showers and thunderstorms settled over the Brattleboro area on the afternoon of Sept. 12, and dumped about 3 inches of rain within the span of a few hours.
The region had advance notice of the bad weather from the National Weather Service office in Albany, N.Y., but many were surprised by the intensity of the rain, and the damage it left behind.
Main Street near the Post Office and Centre Congregational Church was briefly flooded, and a section of the roadway at the corner of Elm and Canal streets near Gouger's Market was washed out.
Elm Street between Flat and Canal streets was closed while the town Public Works Department repaired it.
Washouts were also reported on Bridge, Chestnut, Guilford, and Maple streets, mostly due to plugged drains and culverts.
Plugged-up drains on Flat Street flooded Lynde Motorsports, one of the businesses that was hard hit by Tropical Storm Irene's flooding two years ago. This time around, the Flat Street flooding was less severe, but still caused thousands of dollars of damage to Lynde's.
Other property owners on Williams, Guilford, and South Main Street also reported damage.
Weather forecasters said that it is unusual to see such intense thunderstorms in September, but the good news was that the Whetstone Brook and its tributaries stayed within their banks.
Also, Windham County avoided the massive power outages seen in Rutland and Windsor counties. Green Mountain Power reported only about 400 homes lost power in the Brattleboro area due to the storm. Statewide, GMP reported 30,000 people without power at the height of the storm.