BRISTOL, Vt. (AP) – An intense rain storm hovered over Bristol and New Haven Saturday night, dumping 4 inches of rain.

The rushing water swept mud and rocks off a hillside in Bristol, through yards and foundations and down several streets.

“It was wicked,” Mary Orvis-Baker said of the storm. “My yard was a river.”

The fire department got its first call around 6:30 p.m. after the Merchants Bank parking lot on Main Street disappeared down an embankment.

“It’s totally gone,” Assistant Fire Chief Peter Coffey said Sunday from a command post on the second floor of the fire department.

He and Fire Chief Mark Bouvier worked through the night and into the afternoon Sunday to close roads and evacuate residents threatened by the rising water.

A 79-year-old woman had to be rescued by boat from her home on Route 116. Others were evacuated from an apartment building near the Merchants Bank.

Spent night

About 16 residents showed up at a shelter set up at the high school and about half spent the night. State officials say about 100 residents spent the night at the New Haven town hall and at Middlebury High School.

A boulder knocked out the foundation of one home and water damaged foundations in at least two others. Propane leaks were reported. By Sunday afternoon, fire crews had pumped water from about 35 basements and yards.

“We’re getting ahead of the flooding part of it,” said Coffey.

A dozen roads in Bristol and New Haven, including parts of Vermont Route 116 and 17, remained closed Sunday as road crews leveled out mud and added fill to areas removed by the storm.

Gov. James Douglas toured Bristol and New Haven on Sunday as he and state emergency officials sought to determine if the storm damage would be eligible for federal disaster assistance.

Bristol was hard hit by flooding in 1998 when a huge June rain storm swept through the middle of the state, from Bristol on the west to Bradford on the east. Bristol lost a key bridge in that flood.

Most of the area lost power Saturday night and Central Vermont Public Service had difficulty getting repair crews into town because of the washed out roads. By Sunday morning, though, CVPS reported that power had been restored.

But some, like Kristi Bedard on Mountain Road, remained without power or water Sunday because of damage on their roads or at their homes. Bedard’s neighbors volunteered freezer space. The water off Hogback Mountain rose to just below her window sill Saturday night and left behind a swath of mud and rocks. “It’s like a giant rock garden,” she said of her yard.

Water pushed against the entrance and windows of the nearby elementary school but only damaged the carpets and some supplies, said Mike Orvis, a custodian at the school who spent the night watching the building. By Sunday, the water had receded, and debris clogged a bicycle rack and a muddy line several feet high across the doorway marked where the water had been.

The state emergency management department collected names of property owners who had damage, and brought in the Health Department to assess wells and homes flooded by the storm.

Duncan Higgins, deputy director of emergency management, said a state police mobile command post would arrive shortly to offer more phone lines, faxes, and cell phone service.

On Sunday, as residents and emergency workers cleaned up from Saturday’s storm, they kept one eye to the west – where thunderstorms were again brewing.

“The ground is saturated,” said Bouvier, the fire chief. “We got a tremendous amount of rain.

“It’s been a very wet summer.”