Rescuers try to reach small Vermont towns cut off by torrential rains

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July 11, 2023 View online 1/ State of emergency declared in Vermont as torrential downpours and floods cut off towns Rescue teams raced to Vermont on Monday after heavy downpours across the Northeast washed out roads and forced evacuations. One woman was killed in New York and dozens of others had to be rescued from submerged cars.   Torrents poured through the verdant landscape and small towns of the state after Vermont Governor Philip Scott declared a state of emergency on Sunday. He told a press conference that "this may be just the start of what we'll see as rainfall continues and will worsen over the next several hours".   Mike Cannon of Vermont Urban Search and Rescue said crews from North Carolina, Michigan and Connecticut were among those helping to get to towns that have been unreachable since torrents of rain belted the state overnight.   Mr Cannon said the hardest hit areas are along the mountainous region of the Green Mountains in the state's southern and central counties. The towns of Londonderry and Weston were inaccessible, and rescuers were heading there to do welfare checks. A state park in Plymouth was being evacuated, and water levels at several dams were being monitored. 2/ Houses slide into canyon after landslide tears apart dozen properties in Los Angeles A dozen homes damaged by earth movement on Southern California's Palos Verdes Peninsula 3/ Biden will meet Zelensky at Nato summit in Lithuania as war with Russia rages on Meeting comes as Biden expressed doubts about possible Ukraine membership in NATO 4/ 'Whistleblower' who accused Bidens of corruption criminally charged Gal Luft accused of paying a former adviser to Donald Trump on behalf of principals in China in 2016  5/ Hand-written notes, warring brothers, and an $18m estate: Inside the battle for Aretha Franklin's will The Queen of Soul's sons are split on who will control her fortune THE BIG QUESTION How can I see the Northern Lights over the US this week? A major solar storm could bring the northern lights to more than a dozen states in the US in the coming week.   An increase in activity on the Sun is set to rain down energised particles on Earth, colliding with our atmosphere and producing beautiful lights that could be visible across the sky. Earth's magnetic field protects us from those particles. But it also pushes it towards the pole's of the Earth, meaning that the aurorae are usually only visible in the extreme north and south of the planet.   This week, however, the northern lights could be visible across the US – in Alaska and other states that might be expected, but also Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Indiana, Maine and Maryland. 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