Governor John Lynch and Federal Emergency Management officials toured flood-ravaged Allenstown today.
This is the second time in less than a year the town has been hit hard by flood waters from the Suncook River.
As New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports, the storm caused millions of dollars of damage to homes and roads.
This week’s flood waters forced more than 100 residents in Allenstown from their homes.
Many expect they won’t ever be able to move back.
So far, seven homes have been condemned…but officials aren’t finished counting.
Residents in the town of 5,000 people are tired, angry and devastated.
Claire Audet didn’t hesitate to share that with Governor John Lynch.
(I hope you can do something for us people, because I’ve taken all my funds out of my 401k for last year’s flood, I never got flooded before..)
Audet says she just finished putting up the dry wall in her bedrooms after the flooding from Mother’s Day last year.
She told Lynch flood insurance doesn’t go far enough.
( I hadn’t even put my doors in yet…and I have to start again? I have no excess funds yet …it’s like we need help over here.. I know you do)
Audet’s frustration is felt by many residents in Allenstown -- who say they feel like they were forgotten during the floods last year.
Governor Lynch and FEMA officials went door to door along Riverside Park drive – trying to assure more than 30 residents that help will come.
(call me if there’s anything I can do to help..I know it’s a tough time)
Anasa Mpingo had just started to move furniture back inside her home that sits along the Suncook River.
A contractor was still working on the foundation damaged during floods last year.
(I just started buying stuff in here to use for my grill, never used it.)
About nine inches of water filled Mpingo’s home last year…this year she had at least three feet.
She is one of several residents whose houses are now condemned.
Allenstown building inspector Cliff Jones says most homes were in a flood plain.
“Right now we’re at seven or eight condemned homes right now and its tough in a flood zone because now they have to meet the flood zone ordinance which means either jacking the house up, and a lot of them don’t have flood insurance because this has happened a number of times so it’s going to be out of pocket expense
In order for the state to get federal help, the damage has to be more than one point five million dollars.
FEMA’s regional administrator for New England, Art Cleaves, says from what he’s seen so far, he thinks the damage is far worse.
“It’s clear to me to see this is far beyond the spring floods that you had last year just by looking in these areas and the same number of people, sometimes the same individuals are affected with this flood as they were a year agoâ€
But it’s not just individual homes that were affected.
Officials from Allenstown say just repairing public infrastructure will cost close to a million dollars.
Governor Lynch says he’ll do everything possible to help.
“we’re responding as quickly as we can we can never act to fast to help families who have been forced to evacuate their homes who basically have lost everything it’s just devastating for these familiesâ€
Allenstown spokeswoman Kelly Collins says she’s never seen her neighbors so sad.
“It’s heartbreaking…these are our residents and we get to see them in better times and it’s hard to see them in these times and there’s nothing we can do it’s frustrationâ€
Meanwhile Allenstown residents are spending the next few days scraping mud and debris from their homes..waiting and hoping that assistance will come.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.
