Bennington, Vt. - A brief but powerful late afternoon thunderstorm swept through the town and in less than an hour created street flooding, closed roads, and brought down at least one telephone cable.
Bennington Village Volunteer Fire Department volunteer firefighters were called to assist with a South Street road closure. The road was closed at about 5:40 p.m. because of flooding and was reopened at about 6:20 p.m., according to BVFD dispatcher Tom DePaolo.
Bennington Rural Volunteer Fire Department members were called to assist with a closure of a section of Route 9 west, which was also closed due to flooding.
The rain fell hard and fast during the storm and storm drains weren't able to handle the intense downpour, according to DePaolo.
"The drains just filled right up," he said. "You end up with situations like South Street, where the water comes up and can stall out the cars."
At about 6:30 p.m.,a Bennington police dispatcher reported that all available officers were handling storm-related issues and no one was available to comment on storm damage.
Verizon called a work crew to repair a storm-downed telephone cable reported in the area of Dewey Street and Harwood Drive. The damage was repaired by 7:15 p.m..