Vt. residents below dam being evacuated

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Officials are telling hundreds of people to leave their homes in Vermont and a utility is considering flooding the state's capital to save a dam amid heavy rain from Tropical Storm Irene.

Green Mountain Power warns that Montpelier could be flooded twice: once from the initial storm and again if the utility decides it must release water from the Marshfield Reservoir.

Spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure says record water levels in the reservoir are approaching the top of the Marshfield Dam.

She says that to protect the public safety and the integrity of the dam, extra water may be released, which will increase water levels along the already swollen Winooski River.

It was not clear how much