State: Flooding a Continuing Problem

By David Darman on Monday, May 15, 2006.

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As much as twelve inches of rain has caused widespread flooding across New Hampshire.

The deluge interfered with this morning's commute, and caused officials to call off school in many communities around the state.

The situation has been monitored all day by New Hampshire's Bureau of Emergency Management.

Jim Van Dongen is a spokesman for the bureau.

Web resources:

Full Coverage: Flooding In New Hampshire

Darman: "Jim, what are you hearing about flooding now?"

Van Dongen: "It's a continuing problem, and as long as the rain keeps up, we're going to be facing it. We've got moderate flooding conditions, damage, in approximately eight counties. And most of the damage we're talking about is to roads. We've still got over 600 roads that have been compromised in some way among those eight counties."

Darman: "And are those roads still closed?"

Van Dongen: "They're closed in whole or in part, or they've got other types of traffic barricades around them. It's a mixed bag, and it's a changing mixed bag. The DOT is keeping track of those things for us, but it's changing literally every hour."

Darman: "How bad is the flooding at some of the major rivers, like the Merrimack River?"

Van Dongen: "All of the rivers are at least at flood stage, probably considerably more. We haven't seen any extreme flooding. Most of them are a foot or two over their flood stage."

Darman: "And we've heard earlier about evacuations because of flooding. Are these limited to just a few places, or are they becoming more widespread?"

Van Dongen: "Evacuations are handled on a local level, so you might have several people evacuated from one building, you might have a couple of hundred evacuated from a neighborhood. We probably have several thousand people out of their homes at any given time. But again, those shift as well. People go back home the next night, or after a while; other people are being kept out for quite a while. It just depends on the local situation."

Darman: "Hooksett, Goffstown and Manchester reported widespread damage from the floods."

Van Dongen: "Yes."

Darman: "Do you know any more about their situation now than you did earlier?"

Van Dongen: "Not really. This is a situation that's very much in flux, and it's not stopping until the water stops coming out of the sky. What we've seen for the last day or so is simply going to continue, and it'll continue to get worse as long as it's raining."

Darman: "Have you heard of any fatalities connected with the flooding?"

Van Dongen: "That's the one good thing to report on this incident. We have not had even any injuries reported and certainly no fatalities. If you think back to last October, in the flood in Cheshire County, seven people died there. And so far, so good."

Darman: "All the rain has also stressed many dams in the state. How are they holding up?"

Van Dongen: "There's at least a dozen that are under observation by engineers from the state, as well as dam owners and operators. They are all stable. There is no dam in imminent danger of collapse, but as I say, there's at least a dozen of them that are under active surveillance."

Darman: "Jim, when do you think you might get a better assessment of the damage from the storm?"

Van Dongen: "That's sort of the next step in the process, which is to do a damage assessment and find out what's going on. We're nowhere near that stage- we're still in an active disaster response at the state and certainly at the local level, where most of the action is, and we're gonna be that way at least for another day or so. We simply don't know when we're coming out of this."

Darman: "With what you've seen of the forecast, when do you think the cleanup can start?"

Van Dongen: "That may take awhile. I mean, I'm sure there are people already who are starting to clean up. If you've got water in your basement, you're gonna want to get that out of there as soon as possible. But you may have more flowing in. It's difficult to keep track of right now. But every situation is different."

Darman: "Any word from federal officials on what their response might be to this?"

Van Dongen: "No. It'll be up to the state. The state does intend to apply for federal disaster assistance, but that's a long, involved process that we haven't even started."

Darman: "Jim, thanks for talking with me."

Van Dongen: "You're very welcome."

Jim Van Dongen is public information officer for New Hampshire's Bureau of Emergency Management.