Rescue crews recovered the body of a 73-year-old man in Lyndonville on Thursday, hours after his car was swept off a flooded road, according to Police Chief Jack Harris. The man’s death is the second known to be tied to the storm that covered Vermont with rain late Wednesday.
Harris identified the victim as John Rice, of Concord.
Rice was seen driving west on Center Street around 11:15 a.m. Thursday toward a section of the road covered by an overflowing Passumpsic River. Onlookers sought to warn him, Harris said, but he waved back and continued driving. When his car met the river’s current, it was quickly swept 250 to 300 feet into a hay field covered by more than 15 feet of water.
State and local rescue crews spent two hours trying to locate the car, a Chevy Impala, but ultimately suspended the search until the water subsided, Harris said. Crews resumed their work around 5 p.m. and recovered Rice’s body around 5:30.
Lyndonville was among the hardest-hit areas of the state. Remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl dumped more than 4 inches of rain on the village, according to the National Weather Service. That led to more than two dozen rescues in the area, Harris said.
Earlier Thursday, authorities confirmed that another man died in Peacham late Wednesday after the UTV he was driving was swept into another flooded waterway.