After declaring a state of emergency this morning, Governor Maggie Hassan and state officials toured N.H. towns most affected by this week’s flooding, including Lebanon, Washington, and Alstead.
Monday's flooding brought more than $2 million worth of damage to the state, damaging 15 roads in Washington alone. While road crews work to clean up and start rebuilding efforts, Governor Hassan says she is already planning for future storms.
“Certainly we have seen more of these severe weather events in N.H. over recent years. We obviously need to make an assessment about how to shore up infrastructure in places that repeatedly get hit by these storms. So that we’re preventing this kind of damage and we don’t have it in the future, or if we do, it’s much more easy to prepare.”
This week’s flooding washed out the same section of Rt. 12A in Alstead that was damaged in 2005 floods. N.H. Department of Transportation Commissioner Chris Clement says preventative measures would include placing more culverts that are wider in diameter into the road.