Southwestern New Hampshire rebuilding from flood damage: 'How do I recover from this?'
WINCHESTER, N.H. - "Road Closed," said the sign where a stretch of Route 10 in Winchester, New Hampshire, is shut down. After flooding gutted about 800 feet of the northbound lane, crews were scrambling Tuesday to make it passable.
Right next to that, Tracy Paquette was emotional looking at his backyard oasis that he says took him eight years to construct. "I mean look at this," he said. "How do I recover from this?" Torrential rain broke a beaver dam in the waterway behind his home.
"The stream was just rushing. I couldn't even open that door," he said pointing to mud caked on the floor of his back porch and up his back door. "The water was that high!"
In neighboring Swanzey, roads were turned into strips of rubble leading into Pilgrim Pines Camp. "The storm came in and just hovered right over Swanzey, particularly right over our camp," said Executive Director Jim Condap. He helped evacuate several hundred people there during the height of the storm and resulting floods.
"We're heartbroken...We're in the process of assessing damage," he said looking at the destroyed beach, and a leveled boathouse. "There was just so much water falling from the sky," said Condap.
Governor Chris Sununu toured flood damaged areas, including Winchester, on Tuesday. He pledged to extend resources to help flooded regions in the neighboring state of Vermont as well.
