State officials are closely monitoring the water levels behind the three flood control dams along the Winooski River as a new round of storms reaches Vermont.

The Wrightsville Dam north of the Montpelier city line was of particular concern during flooding on Monday and Tuesday, when water rose to within a foot of the dam's spillway. Had the floodwater kept rising, it would have plunged down the spillway into the North Branch, worsening the downstream flooding that swamped the city's downtown.


“The level in the Winooski River and the Dog River have receded, so that takes pressure off the entire system,” he said.

The Waterbury Dam is the largest of the three state-owned flood-control dams. To ensure it had sufficient capacity, engineers began releasing water from the floodgates on Wednesday, Blatt told Seven Days. As he stood near the base of the spillway on Thursday, Blatt said engineers had opened just one of the three gates at the top of the spillway. The goal was to lower the level of the reservoir without allowing the Little River to overflow its banks, he said.

The partial release was nevertheless an impressive sight, creating a roaring plume of whitewater cascading more than 100 feet to the river below. A geyser also blasted from the base of the nearby Green Mountain Power hydroelectric plant at the base of the dam, and the combined releases swelled the Little River to anything but.