A Year Later, Alstead is Rebuilding

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ALSTEAD SELECTMAN BILL MORAN GAVE ME A TOUR OF WHAT'S BECOME OF HIS TOWN A YEAR AFTER THE FLOOD

COMING INTO TOWN ON ROUTE 123 IT’S CLEAR:

MUCH MORE WORK STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE HERE.

WE DRIVE PAST DAMAGED AND DESTOYED HOMES.

A NEWLY PAVED ROAD JOGS AROUND CEMENT BARRIERS BLOCKING OFF WHAT'S LEFT OF THE OLD ROUTE 123

THERE IS A NEW STOP LIGHT IN TOWN.

BUT IT'S TO CONTROL TRAFFIC WHERE THE MAIN ROAD IS REDUCED TO JUST ONE LANE.

MORAN RECALLS THAT EARLY SUNDAY MORNING A YEAR AGO.

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“What happened, finally, is that road and that culvert, under the weight and pressure, gave way. And when it gave way, what you had is what I describe as an ‘inland tsunami’. You had a wall of water that just cascaded down here and carved out a swath of unbelievable, unimaginable destruction.”

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A HALF-HOUR LATER, MOST OF THE DAMAGE WAS DONE.

ROADS, BRIDGES, HOMES, AND SEVERAL LIVES WERE WASHED DOWNSTREAM.

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WE FOLLOWED THE PATH OF DESTRUCTION ALONG THE FOUR REBUILT MILES OF ROUTE 123

THIS DRIVE WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE THIS TIME LAST YEAR.

JIM FOWLE HAS LIVED IN ALSTEAD FOR 22 YEARS.

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“For the first week, we only had one way into town—and that was a dirt road with a one-way wooden bridge on it. Getting the roads back so you could get in-and-out of town, and from one end of town to the other, was the most important thing.”

VIRTUALLY EVERY BRIDGE AND MAJOR ROAD IN ALSTEAD WAS DAMAGED BY THE FLOODING

A DRIVE THAT USED TO TAKE MINUTES BECAME AN HOUR LONG COMMUTE.

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“(Route) 123, especially in the section that it’s now one-way, was all washed away…down to the bedrock to the ledge below. The most width you had in that section was probably five feet.”

BOB LANDRY HAS SPENT THE LAST YEAR IN ALSTEAD AS A PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.

HE SAYS THEY’VE GOTTEN A LOT DONE

BUT HE CAN FEEL THE TOWN’S FRUSTRATION.

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“Alstead’s biggest challenge to me is…trying to get it done ‘yesterday’. In the sense that, they want to see things done very quickly…and just the normal process of projects don’t allow that to happen overnight.”

LANDRY ESTIMATES REPAIRING ALSTEAD'S ROADS WILL COST A TOTAL OF $20-MILLION DOLLARS.….AND THREE MORE YEARS OF WORK. .

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MORAN AND I PULL OFF THE ROADWAY IN FRONT OF WHATS LEFT OF A YELLOW HOUSE.

THE FLOOD GUTTED IT.

LARGE PARTS OF THE FIRST FLOOR EXTERIOR WALL ARE GONE.

AS I LOOK IN I CAN READ THE BRAND-NAMES ON THEIR WASHER AND DRYER.)

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THE RAGING WATER DESTROYED OR HEAVILY DAMAGED SOME 30 HOMES IN ALSTEAD THAT DAY.

ONLY ONE OF THEM HAD FLOOD INSURANCE.

SELECTMAN MORAN SAYS SOME RESIDENTS TURNED TO THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY FOR HELP.

BUT THEY CAME TO REALIZE FEMA WILL DO ONLY SO MUCH.

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“As far as helping individuals, they’re geared towards get temporary…you know, pay for rent or whatever, temporary housing. But as far as dollar amounts to actually rebuild, they’re not really geared for that…and I think people’s expectations were much higher.”

RELIEF, INSTEAD, CAME FROM THE STATE
IN THE FORM OF HOUSE BILL 17-67.

BETTER KNOWN AS THE ‘HOME BUYOUT BILL’, IT ALLOWED THE STATE TO PURCHASE 26 OF THE DAMAGED PROPERTIES.

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“So these folks had no home, and in several cases, no land that used to be there…yet they still had a mortgage. So the question they were asking is ‘how do I even begin?’…you know? A ‘we’ll be bankrupted’ kind of thing. This is what the State Buyout Bill did. It said to them ‘you will get your assessed value, less what you have received in aid’.”

AS A RESULT OF THE BUYOUT, THE LANDSCAPE ALONG THE RIVER-FRONT WILL BE CHANGED FOREVER.

THE STILL-STANDING HOMES WILL BE LEVELED IN THE COMING YEAR

AND THE LAND WILL EITHER BE RE-FORESTED, OR BE TURNED OVER FOR RECREATIONAL USE.

PEOPLE WILL NEVER LIVE IN THESE SPOTS AGAIN.

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AT THE CENTER OF TOWN SITS THE ALSTEAD VILLAGE MARKET

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IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE THAT THIS WAS THE EPICENTER OF THE DESTRUCTION.

KIDS ARE RIDING THEIR BIKES.

AND A CROWD HAS GATHERED FOR A VETERANS MEMORIAL BARBEQUE ACROSS THE ROAD

ERWIN WARD WAS DOWNTOWN THAT MORNING WHEN THE FLOODING RIPPED THROUGH.

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“Turned around to come back down, just as a tidal wave came over that bridge…and then this was all flooded. This was just like a lake.”

THE 76-YEAR-OLD, LONG-TIME ALSTEAD RESIDENT SAW THE TORRENT OF WATER RUSH INTO THE TOWN OFFICE BUILDING, AND FILL THE POLICE STATION.

IT ALSO DESTROYED MILLOT GREEN, THE TOWN’S PARK.

ROB VOGEL HAS BEEN VOLUNTEERING HIS TIME TO REBUILD SOME OF WHAT WAS LOST

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“Millot Green has always been a community gathering place…and it’s just an effort to see the town get back on its feet and back together. And I think it’s a long way on its way to doing that.”

MILLOT GREEN WAS USED AS A STAGING AREA IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE FLOODING.

THE PLACE WHERE CHILDREN ONCE SCORED GOALS AND HIT HOMERUNS, BEGAN TO SERVE AS A DAILY REMINDER THAT LIFE ISN'T ALWAYS SO GOOD.

TIRES, TREES, CARS, AND PIECES OF HOMES WERE PULLED OUT OF THE RIVER AND WERE LEFT THERE TO BE PICKED UP

ONE YEAR LATER, VOGEL SAYS THE PARK IS ALMOST BACK.

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“Well, it will feel like it’s supposed to be, and it will be a great feeling to see the kids playing soccer. And hopefully they’ll be playing baseball in the spring, and I don’t think we’ll have a horse show this fall…but I think we’ll have one this spring.”

AND LIKE VOGEL, MUCH OF ALSTEAD IS LOOKING AHEAD TO THE FUTURE

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BUT IN THE MEANTIME, PASSERSBY IN FRONT OF THE ALSTEAD VILLAGE MARKET, HAD MIXED REACTIONS TO THE PROGRESS.

(REACTIONS VARIED…)

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Man: “Are we where we want to be? Probably not yet. There’s a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done, and a lot of relocating.”

Woman: “Oh, it’s incredible. I mean, I’m sitting right across from the house where I remember pictures of the river actually undermining the whole house and running through the bottom floor, and now it’s been repaired. They’re ready to putting siding on it. It’s much better.”

Man: “It will never be the same. They can do whatever they want with it. It will never be the same.”

THE LANDSCAPE ALONE CARRIES ENOUGH SCARS TO PROOVE THAT

AND IT MAY BE YEARS BEFORE THE TOWN CAN FORGET THE PAIN.

BUT MANY TOWN RESIDENTS SAY WHILE THE FLOOD RIPPED THE TOWN APART THAT SUNDAY MORNING, IT HAS ALSO BROUGHT PEOPLE TOGETHER.

A BUMPER STICKER FOUND ON CARS THROUGHOUT TOWN PERHAPS SAYS IT BEST.

HOPE LIVES IN ALSTEAD.

FOR NHPR NEWS, IM DAVE SHURTLEFF