Today Federal Emergency Management teams began an inspection on the extent of flood damage around New Hampshire.
They are visiting residential areas throughout the next few days to determine whether the state will qualify for federal recovery aid.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Kerry Grens caught up with one FEMA team in Manchester and has this report.
[sounds outside Fire Department. FEMA's here, they'd like to talk to you.]
Around Manchester, city fire officials and FEMA staff knock on doors to talk with residents about their flood damage.
Sallay: Sure I can come in
Enid Harrington and Gordon Tapsell let them in, and answer questions from FEMA inspector Doug Salley.
Salley: But there is water in the basement?
Harrington and Tapsell: Oh yes!
Salley: Affect your utilities down there? Any sewage back up?
Tapsell: Everything's running. Our hot water boiler was underwater, but I dried it out and that's fine.
Harrington and Tapsell take Salley into their basement to show him the high water mark.
[sounds in the basement]
Tapsell: About up to here
It's several feet high.
Harrington: Gordon, how many pumps did you have going?
Tapsell: I had nine pumps.
Harrington: Nine pumps.
[sounds outside]
Manchester Fire investigator Jeff Emanuelson says this neighborhood, which borders the Merrimack River, was one of the worst affected in town.
Emanuelson: This is Stark Lane and where you're standing now the water was probably up to your shoulders at the height of the storm. Every home here was affected in one form or another.
Emanuelson is leading the FEMA team around Manchester to showcase the worst areas.
Schiller Street, for example, where floodwaters filled the basements, came up to the first floor, knocked out power and cracked one resident's oil tank.
And Varney Street, where a chunk of someone's backyard fell into the Piscataquog River.
Doug Salley with FEMA collects these observations.
They'll be used to determine whether New Hampshire is declared a disaster area.
Salley: All's we're looking for is to get a snapshot of the damage. Then we collect all the data, send it up to through state, and then the decision's made from there. We're just getting a snapshot of the damage, how much water in the basement, that type of thing.
Salley doesn't spend long at each site, just a few minutes with one or two residents at each stop around the city.
Four FEMA teams will spend the next few days surveying flood areas in Strafford, Rockingham, Merrimack, Hillsboro, and Belknap Counties.
FEMA spokesperson Kevin Galvin says that if the teams find enough data for the President to declare a disaster, residents will then be able to apply for aid.
Galvin: The most you may get for grants to be able to fix the damage to move back into your home could be ten thousand dollars. At that point if there's major damage and you have to rebuild then you get turned over to the small business administration for lost cost low interest disaster loans.
At this point FEMA is looking at damage only to homes and businesses.
Galvin says next week another team will come in to assess how badly the infrastructure has been hurt.
Governor John Lynch said he is confident New Hampshire will qualify for federal aid.
SOQ
I used to live in Manchester and don't remember anything like this happening in the 20 years i lived there. Did the state every qualify for federal aid? With all of the recent weather related disasters in the news lately I wish I had stock in a water damage restoration company