SUTTON, Vt. (AP) — Communities in rural parts of Vermont on Friday woke up once again to damaged homes and washed-out roads due to heavy rainfall and flash flooding, making it the third consecutive summer that severe floods have inundated parts of the state.

Up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain fell in just a few hours on Thursday, prompting rapid flooding as local waterways began to swell, said Robert Haynes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Burlington office.

Nearly 20 homes were cut off in the small town of Sutton as a local brook quickly rose from its banks and surrounded buildings, Fire Chief Kyle Seymour said. His crews were called out to help rescue people from two homes, which required help from swift-water rescue teams called in from neighboring communities.

“This was an incredibly strong, quick-moving localized heavy water,” Seymour said. “It overwhelmed all of our road culverts, all of our streams, all of our rivers. But the actual weather event lasted three hours, with the bulk of the rain concentrated within one hour.”

Though the severity of the storms wasn’t as widespread compared to the past two years, local officials were still surveying the extent of the damage Friday morning and shaking their heads that they were dealing with flood recovery for three years in a row.

“When I started seeing the reporters saying it wasn’t going to be that bad, I didn’t believe it,” Seymour said, adding that at least one member of his crew has contemplated retiring after experiencing such repeated flood emergencies.

Michelle Tanner stood Friday on what used to be her driveway, dismayed that for the third time her property was washed out by flooding. She and her family have lived in Sutton for 25 years and want to continue doing so, but fear what another flood might do.

“We don’t know if the house will make it again,” Tanner said. “We’ll see what happens. We don’t want to start all over, though I guess we are.”

Tanner’s daughter, Tanika Allard, said taking in the flood damage once again made her tear up.

“This year by far did the worst amount of damage with the least amount of rain, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense,” she said.

According to the National Weather Service, Vermont’s experience with floods can be traced to both ongoing climate change and the state’s mountainous geography. Greater rainfall and increased moisture availability have made the state’s steep terrain more susceptible to flooding.

Elsewhere in Vermont, heavy winds blew off a significant portion of a high school’s roof in Addison County.

Meanwhile, flash flooding also occurred in Massachusetts on Thursday after rains dumped more than 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain in some areas. Some businesses were flooded in the town of Weymouth, which saw the bulk of the rain and flooding while commuters faced delays as highways and streets south of Boston flooded.

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

Cleared of murder charges after her second trial, Karen Read of Massachusetts could pursue legal action against a number of individuals and government entities involved in the case against her, according to legal analysts.

“She has a way to sue both the individual officers who are violating her privacy who did an investigation that was not complete, that was inaccurate, that was incompetent,” said Linda Kenney Baden, a New York City defense attorney whose clients have included Aaron Hernandez, Phil Spector and Casey Anthony.

“And also she [may] sue the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts State Police for not training their officers to do a competent investigation and training their officers not to invade her privacy – and which results in her false arrest under the Constitution of the United States.” 

She may also have a malicious prosecution claim, Kenney Baden said.

VINDICATED KAREN READ THANKS ‘GREATEST’ LEGAL TEAM AS JURORS DELIVER NOT GUILTY VERDICT IN BOYFRIEND’S DEATH

Read lost two jobs after being charged with murder, a charge she was cleared of Wednesday, and sold her house to help cover multimillion-dollar legal fees. 

Under the circumstances, the more people or entities she sues who are covered by insurance, the better.

“She wants a whole bunch of lawyers in, because she wants policies, money, policies to collect against,” Kenney Baden said.

KAREN READ MURDER CASE VERDICT REACHED AFTER DEADLOCKED FIRST TRIAL

Officer John O’Keefe  (Boston Police Department)

On the other hand, she’s facing a lawsuit of her own from O’Keefe’s family.

“The more money that she can get, the more money that the O’Keefes are going to seek,” the lawyer said. But in the process, Read could also file a cross claim against the two Canton bars that are also facing lawsuits from the O’Keefe family.

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“She can still file against the bars for serving her, because the jurors found that she drove intoxicated,” Kenney Baden said. 

David Gelman, a Philadelphia-area defense lawyer and former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital the recently cleared Read could set her sights on local police in Canton, state troopers, individual investigators and maybe even the state government. 

FINAL DEFENSE WITNESS IN KAREN READ TRIAL PUMPS BRAKES ON LEXUS COLLISION THEORY

Peggy O’Keefe, mother of John O’Keefe, listens to testimony during the Karen Read retrial in Norfolk Superior Court June 11, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

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“Keep an eye on the prosecutor’s office,” he said. “Through discovery, if it comes out that they were in cahoots, they will be brought into it.”

The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office brought in a special prosecutor to handle Read’s second trial after the first ended with a deadlocked jury and a fired lead homicide investigator.

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The detective, Michael Proctor, sent confidential information about the case to civilians, according to a state police review that led to his firing. He also appeared to mock Read’s medical conditions, which legal experts say could be considered an invasion of privacy.

WATCH ‘KAREN READ TRIAL LIVE’ ON FOX NATION, HOSTED BY PAUL MAURO

Paul O’Keefe, brother of John O’Keefe, listens to testimony during the Karen Read murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., May 9, 2025. (Mark Stockwell/The Sun Chronicle via AP, Pool)

“She theoretically could sue one or more of the officers or investigators for violation of her constitutional rights, for fabricating reports or false submission of evidence,” said Randolph Rice, a Maryland-based attorney who has followed the case. “Then the issue becomes the supervising agency, [which] may deny liability because they will argue that it’s outside the scope of that investigating officer’s employment.”

He said embattled police may be in the clear, however, because they did establish probable cause before a grand jury.

LAS VEGAS — The Celtics released their Summer League roster on Tuesday but made one major addition before Friday’s opener against the Grizzlies. Boston brought aboard free agent center Charles Bassey to the roster in a surprise move, as the big man joined Amari Williams and Kenneth Lofton Jr. as the team’s primary bigs in Las Vegas.

“It was last-minute,” Bassey said. “I got a call from my agent and flew out the next day and started training camp with them. It’s been good, man. It’s been good from training camp to today’s game. The energy has been great, vibing with these guys and coaches, it’s been fun. Everything’s been good.

Bassey is arguably the most accomplished player in Las Vegas on the Celtics roster, having played four seasons already in the league, including the last three years in San Antonio. The Celtics have previously had interest in the 6-foot-10 center per a source but now there is clear opportunity in the team’s frontcourt following major offseason changes. The chance for a spot likely led Bassey to make a return to Summer League, an unusual move for a player who has played four seasons in the league.

Bassey clearly wants to showcase himself for a potential roster opportunity in Boston and did so well on Friday night, posting a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds in just 18 minutes off the bench in the Celtics’ 92-78 win over the Grizzlies.

Summer League coach Matt Reynolds raved about Bassey’s impact after the win and how he’s acclimated after joining the roster so late into training camp.

“We found out he was going to join the team shortly before we got started with day one,” Reynolds said. “He did not participate in the live portion day one but he came in day two, again, as we talked about earlier, terminology and concepts, he was behind in that regard, but it was just clear that that guy can make an impact in the game and you saw that throughout the course of the game today. I think he was huge for us.”

Bassey finished with a team-high plus-20 and was a force on both ends of the floor with his rebounding (seven offensive boards) and rim protection (two blocks). He was also efficient with his offense, shooting 7-of-8 from the field, dominating the Grizzlies overmatched big men on the interior with his physicality. ‘’

“Great effort, rebounding, blocking shots, rim protection,” Bassey said of his skillset. “I bring great defense to the team. I just play my role. I know what a team needs from me and I know what they want from me and I do it every night.”

The Celtics have arguably the shallowest depth chart at center in the NBA at this point, with Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman and Luka Garza as the team’s only true bigs. Boston’s 15-man roster is full for the time being, but there are some non-guaranteed deals that could be moved. Another trade could also bring a chance to make a final roster.

Whether that chance comes for Bassey remains to be seen, but he looked like a player Friday that deserves a longer look to potentially bolster a very thin part of the depth chart in Boston.