WILLISTON, Vt. (WCAX) – It’s not just roads that flooded. This is déjà vu for a family farm in Williston with flooded fields.
Onan Whitcomb of the North Williston Cattle Company grows 168 acres of soybeans and about 500 acres of corn.
The soybeans are completely underwater.
This is the second year in a row the Winooski River has flooded his fields. Much of it is in a floodplain.
The farmer doesn’t know whether either of the crops will be saved.
“As you can see, the corn tipped a little, that if it doesn’t get knocked anymore, if the stalk doesn’t break, it may recover, but it’s not going to be like it wasn’t flooded,” Whitcomb said. “And this area over here where there’s nothing showing, that’s the soybeans and I don’t know how they will survive the water.”
Whitcomb says his family has been farming this land for more than 150 years.
He says his land typically floods about every five years, saying it’s unusual to have two consecutive years of torrential downpours.
The crest of the river isn’t expected until 8 p.m. Thursday. Whitcomb says this might rival last year’s storm damage.