Waterlogged Vermont and northern New York braced for more rain a week after Tropical Storm Irene destroyed roads and sent floodwaters cascading into homes and businesses.

A flash flood watch for the region has been issued for Sunday evening through Tuesday morning, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said.

Abundant moisture from Tropical Storm Lee, moving up from the Gulf of Mexico, will interact with an approaching cold front to produce widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches with localized amounts of 4 inches possible, Morris said.

A flash flood watch means conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding.

Although the forecast was too far out to show precisely where the heaviest rain might fall, “it could be trouble,” especially for the southern part of the state, said Mark Bosma, spokesman for Vermont Emergency Management. “The ground is already saturated and some of the road beds have been washed out.”

Irene killed 43 people from Florida to New England as it marched up the Eastern Seaboard over the weekend, dumping torrential rain. Some of the worst flooding struck Vermont, New Jersey and upstate New York.

Swiftwater rescue teams have been put on notice, Bosma told CNN on Saturday.

The state and towns are already in an emergency operations mode because of Irene.

“It’s all hands on deck,” Bosma said of road crews, which have been busy across the state with emergency repairs. National Guard engineers and other personnel, including a contingent from Maine, are working this weekend on bridges and thoroughfares.

Towns are being informed of the latest weather conditions, Bosma said.

Power outages in Vermont from Irene were down from a high of 50,000 to about 300 Saturday, he added.

(Source: CNN)