Story Archives of 'Alstead'

This week marks one year since a 500-year flood hit the small town of Alstead.

In one day, the course of the Cold River changed a process that normally would have taken hundreds of years.

The flood also sent homes, cars, debris and contaminants into the river.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports on the environmental changes the flood caused.

For the past year, the Town of Alstead has been rebuilding.

On October 9th, 2005, after an historic rainfall, a wall of water broke through a culvert and devastated the small town.

The flood washed away homes, roads and bridges.

NHPR Correspondent Dave Shurtleff visited the town recently to see what progress has been made to rebuild.

He filed this report.

Today, the people in Alstead, in Southwest New Hampshire, will be commemorating an event that changed that town forever.

A year ago, on October 9th, after more than a dozen inches of rain had fallen in the area, a wall of water broke through an overburdened culvert and washed roads and bridges, buildings and lives downstream.

This week New Hampshire Public Radio will be reporting on Alstead's recovery after the Flood of 2005.

But we begin with recollections.

Alstead resident Paul Rodrigue has produced a CD called Water Rising.

On it, residents of Alstead, tell their story.

Here is an excerpt.

We're starting the night before....as the rains continued to drench the town...and the waters were rising.

While media coverage of Alstead may have quieted down in recent weeks, the town is still recovering from massive flood damage. Roads and bridges need to be repaired and rebuilt, power restored, and the piles of debris in the Cold River cleaned out. We'll check in with a variety of relief efforts going on in Alstead and get the state of the state on flooding. Laura's guest is Matt Saxton, selectman in Alstead. We'll also hear from Delvina Kearney, owner of the Alstead Village Store; Kevin Galvin, public affairs officer for FEMA and Carol Bennett, principal at Alstead Primary School.

Three weeks after the floods that devastated Alstead, crews are still out in full force. They're repairing roads, rebuilding bridges, and restoring power to parts of town. They are also cleaning up the massive amount of debris that ended up in the Cold River after it tore through the town upending trees, destroying homes, and washing away roads. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Rebecca Kaufman checked in with the river clean-up and filed this report.