Allenstown News : floods

Man flooded two years ago gets donated house

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:46:00 GMT

By KAREN DANDURANT

Sometime in mid-July, Stan Watson will return to the property he has lived at for more than 10 years, to a brand-new home that was donated to him.

Watson’s previous home was destroyed in April 2007. Flood waters sent 3 feet of water through his property.

“I got out with a couple of bags of clothes and my dog,” Watson said. “I carried my dog out of the road. I can’t wait to close the door and know I am home again.”

On June 17, a miracle happened for Watson when a group called “No Place Like Home,” an offshoot of Grace Community Church in Rochester, delivered a modular home to his property at 60 Clement Road.

The home was delivered and finished by members of the church and students from Dover High School. The organization works with area students to give them the chance to help people in need.

Jan Fowler, a member of Grace Community Church said No Place Like Home started after the devastating hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana.

“We helped by sending water and other supplies,” Fowler said. “Our pastor, Bernie Quinn, stayed for two weeks in a shelter counseling people. When he came back, he said we need to think out of the box. We need to help people affected by situations like this.”

The church community recruited help from area businesses for labor and supplies and sent two houses to Cut Off Louisiana, delivered by the National Guard. Their path was set. Since then, the church group has donated a house in Goffstown, one in Barrington, another in Bennington and now the house in Allenstown.

Dover High School junior Nick Lytle said he likes helping even if it is a lot of work.

“A lot of my family are in this kind of business and I have the experience to help,” Lytle said.” It’s a good feeling.”

Nick Tweedie, a senior at Dover High School has been involved in some of the other projects.

“It’s hard work.” He said. “But you meet new people all the time and you know what you are doing is helping people. I worked on a barn. We basically gutted it and added new stalls for animals.

Watson couldn’t be more grateful.

“I have spent over 26 months at my parents’ house in Merrimack,” he said. “I don’t even know what I would have done if they were not around. People keep calling me to ask about the house. I am so grateful and cannot wait to be home.”

If you would like to make a donation to “There’s No Place Like Home” or would like more information on how to get involved, call 332-9689 or visit www.placelikehome.org.

Buyout plan fails to please everyone

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:39:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Town officials have jumped the first hurdle in buying up homes in the Suncook River floodplain in Allenstown, getting $2.1 million in federal assistance, but there is still a way to go before the town can purchase the homes.

“People are going to be lucky if they can make it to the buyout before they’re foreclosed on,” said Marcia Abbott, whose Riverside Drive home was included on a list of 14 homes the town hopes to purchase in what they are calling “phase one” of the buyout project.

Of the 14 homes the town intends to buy, 11 are on Riverside Drive, one is on JillErik Road and two are on Albin Avenue. The federal grant is for 75 percent of the total amount of the cost to purchase the 14 homes. The town is charged with coming up with the rest, and officials hope to secure state funding in the amount of $650,000 through a special appropriation bill currently going through the state Legislature.

Selectman Tom Gilligan said the hope is to get a draft of the bill before the special appropriations committee at their October meeting.

“We’re confident that it has the support it’s going to need,” said Gilligan.

During a public informational meeting on the buyout program on Thursday, Sept. 11, many residents in areas affected by the flooding of 2006 and 2007 expressed concerns that their homes were not included in this round of buyouts.

Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said the town will pursue more grants in the coming years to buy more homes in the flood plain. Getting this federal assistance and following through with the buyouts will help their cause in the future, he said. “Every year, we have a stronger and stronger argument to get to phase two and phase three. We want to see if there’s enough people interested in doing that,” Mulholland said. “We’re not going to stop helping our citizens out.”

Others expressed a need to get out from under their mortgages before foreclosure strikes.

Russell Mailhot of 14 Riverside Drive said the town needs to buy his home before Oct. 14, when his bank has said they will foreclose on his mortgage. “I’m this far from losing everything I ever had because of these floods. I’m a single parent trying to survive,” said Mailhot, whose home was on the list.

Mailhot had to take out thousands in loans to pay for home improvements after the floods. The town, he said after speaking one-on-one with town and state officials after the meeting, is willing to offer him $154,000 for his home.

At that rate, Mailhot said, he’s not sure if he can even afford to take the buyout. Mailhot said he had to take all of the money out of his 401k to fund his home improvements. “I’m 47 years old and I don’t have a retirement fund anymore. I don’t have anything anymore,” Mailhot said.

Keith Donovan’s 24 Riverside home was not included on the list, but the homes on either side of him were.

“Eighteen houses on Riverside applied for that grant, and 12 were accepted. Why were the other six not accepted?” Donovan asked.

Donovan said he had to redo the first floor of his home after the floods, and said that wasn’t the case with some of the other homes who were being bought. “I got eliminated from this and I don’t understand why I got eliminated,” Donovan said. “Granted, everybody deserves it who applied for (the grant), and the houses that didn’t get it, I just don’t understand why two-thirds get it and the other third did not.”

Richard Verville, preparedness planner for the New Hampshire Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said the homes on the list had to meet a cost-benefit ratio to qualify.

“The benefits of purchasing that home have to outweigh the costs,” said Verville, adding each home was considered on a caseby- case basis.

Those who were not included on the list can apply for grants in the future, or sell their homes on their own, something that isn’t a likely scenario, given the frequency of the flooding in the area.

The 26 Riverside Drive home of Paul and Evelyn Bernard was also not included on the list, although their home was raised 10 years ago, they said.

Paul, 66, and Evelyn, 60, are both retired and are on a fixed income. They’re paying about $1,300 per year for flood insurance, they said.

“We can’t put it on the market. No one’s going to buy it,” said Paul Bernard. “So if we don’t get bought out, we’re stuck.”

Kurt St. Germain of 7 Albin Ave. said he and his family had a purchase and sale agreement on their home in place before moving out to Kansas. The deal fell through when the bank would not give the buyers a loan after learning about the floods, Germain said.

The town plans to start the purchasing process next summer, after meeting with each homeowner individually. The purchase prices are based on the April 2007 tax assessment, Mulholland said. “This is going to be new to us,” said Mulholland. “I’m a police chief, not a hazard mitigation expert, but we’re going to do the best we can here.”

Home again – After two floods in two years, Suncook couple begins to recover

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:21:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Marcia Abbott and Brian Gagne will be happy to be back at home, even if it’s 10 feet in the air.

The house on Riverside Park Drive, a small brown cottage-like structure they have dubbed the gingerbread house, was twice ruined in the Suncook River’s spring floods of 2006 and 2007.

Flood insurance paid to raise the house up on a concrete foundation, something they couldn’t do after the first flood, Gagne said, because their flood insurance requires that it happen twice.

But insurance didn’t pay for decks and stairs to get into the house, nor did it replace the insulation, flooring, appliances, and other brand new items acquired after the first flood.

It didn’t replace the old things, either. A 200-year-old antique wood buffet, passed down through Abbott’s family, survived the first one but didn’t make it through flood waters the second time around.

Abbott and Gagne had been back in their home, newly furnished and completely repaired, for about six months before the second flood hit in April.

A crew of workers, organized by No Place Like Home, Grace Capital Church and the Merrimack County Community Action Program, gave them back some pieces of their home.

The workers, including electricians, plumbers and construction workers, volunteered their time on Saturday, Sept. 22, to construct decks in the front and back of the house, build staircases inside and outside, finish a large portion of the plumbing and wiring, and dig a trench for a new gas line among other repairs.

Andy Labrie of the Community Action Program walked through the devastated neighborhood after this year’s waters had receded as people attempted to clean up what was left behind – mostly silt and trash, and items such as propane tanks that had drifted into their yards.

Community Action provided the materials, and Pastor Mark Warren of Grace Capital Church got the work crew together after Paula Young of No Place Like Home contacted the church for pastoral care for the couple.

“It’s great to pray for them, but really what I thought they needed was to get some work done,” Warren said.

Gagne, Abbott and their three cats have been living in a mobile home on Abbot’s mother’s lawn in Derry since they had to leave their home.

Both are out of work, Gagne having been laid off at the end of March and Abbott having to quit her job to take on the full time work of cleaning up and rebuilding their home – again.

“We have to get in before winter,” Abbott said, before the cold and snow comes, adding that the clean up and restoration is a “full time job.”

Many local businesses were involved in the work done on their home, including Dumpster Depot, Bagley Construction, DME Construction, and Jim Donnelly from Donnelly Plumbing and Heating.

Ken Hadley, senior project manager for the construction company J.H. Spaine, Assoc., oversaw the project.

“We probably donated over $10,000 worth of labor,” Warren said.

Other homes on the road, which is located near the Suncook’s banks, are in worse shape than Gagne’s and Abbott’s, several of them now empty.

“Everyone on the road just didn’t recover financially, emotionally, or mentally from last year’s flood, and we get hit again,” Abbott said. “Some people have been here 20 or 30 years, and they’re thinking about leaving.”

The flooding, however, pulled together the neighbors. “Disaster sometimes brings the community together,” Gagne said.

Damages from the two floods have cost the couple about $150,000, only a portion of which insurance paid for, Gagne said.

Once their home is livable, they will be able to help others still working to get back in their houses before winter hits, they said.

The couple is grateful for the huge amount of work the volunteer crew completed. “They’ve helped me out quite a bit with what they could do,” Gagne said.

Gagne said they hope to get into their home in the next few weeks. As of now, the walls and ceilings have been painted, and they are working on putting in the floors and getting the electrical and heating work done.

“We just keep plugging away day by day,” he said.

Condemned homes strain mobile home park

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:35:00 GMT

BY SUSAN WARE

A handful of Brookside Terrace residents met on Sunday, June 24, to weigh their options. The issue is that a quarter of their mobile home park sits dangerously close to the Suncook River and has been flooded twice in the past two years.

Today, almost three months after the last flood, there are six condemned mobile homes in the park, the owners having fled when the water started quickly rising on April 9.

The flood has caused problems for the homeowners who lost everything, but also for the remaining residents who now have to deal with the financial strain.

Brookside Terrace has a mortgage for 21 homes. After the heavy rains that caused flooding on Mother’s Day 2006, one of the Jasper Lane members of the co-operative had his flooded mobile home removed, leaving the other members to cover his share of the mortgage.

Lynn Booth, a representative of New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, has been working with the co-operative to figure out how they will manage their mortgage with only 14 homes.

“We work with co-operatives on financial matters like this. We need to figure out how they can manage with six fewer homes. We are working with their bank,” said Booth.

Jack Payne is the president of the co-operative and his home sits on the upper side of the park. He is one of the lucky ones.

Almost three months after the flash flood, the mobile homes on the lower riverside lots are empty. Their owners left in a hurry, leaving food on the stove, laundry on the clothesline and all of their possessions.

The floods were not just water, but water that seemed to converge on the neighborhood from three different directions because locals contend that the path of the river is changing.

The force of the water caused mobile homes to move off of foundations, oil tanks to detach, and silt and mud to fill what once were lawns and living rooms. Lawns, now overgrown, are home to grass and aquatic foliage.

“Look at the river now. Unbelievable. There’s barely 2 feet of water,” said Payne pointing down over the embankment to a seeming passive river.

But remnants of the flood remain in the Suncook River too. Look one way and there is a home oil tank sitting on the river floor in a few feet of water. There is twisted metal from mobile homes caught up in the embankment and other household items.

Payne said the co-operative took an informal vote on June 24 as to whether they should work with Community Action Program to clean up the condemned area by removing the five mobile homes and infrastructure and relocating the families.

Andy LaBrie, the housing coordinator with Community Action Program who is working with the park said that his agency does relocation, not remediation.

“We move families affected into different mobile homes using some of their FEMA money and other funds if necessary. Then we remove their damaged home,” said LaBrie.

Community Action Program is in the process of relocating 18 families in the area in similar situations. Once the flood-damaged mobile home is removed, a deed restriction is put on the lot and it becomes green space.

“What they will do is come in here and take all of these home out of here. Gone. Then they will remove septic and water and grow grass. Nothing will ever be built here again,” said Payne.

This is bittersweet because the residents of the mobile home park are all on fixed incomes, said Payne.

“We are not wealthy people here. We all are on fixed incomes and money is tight,” he said.

For the owners of these condemned homes, working with Community Action program means they would not have to pay the $5,000 it would cost to remove their home, but they must sign over the deed, walk away and take a financial loss.

Also, according to Payne, the entire mobile home park must agree to allow Community Action Program to relocate mobile homes because of the financial stake.

“Each of the 20 residents owns one share, so the vote must be unanimous,” said Payne.

Payne knows each of the condemned homes personally. He points to reminders of the floods that still remain and tells stories of the owners, now all scattered and staying with family and friends.

One home has a Harley Davidson parked out front. The motorcycle sat completely submerged in rushing water and is now ruined.

Another mobile home, expansive and modern, shifted off its foundation. Payne said when the owner tried to repair the foundation, he slipped and broke his leg. The couple had lived in the home less than four months when the flood hit. His wife is blind and was unable to assist, said Payne.

The floodwater sat in their home too long, and standing in the overgrown front yard you can smell mold and mildew. The home is now twisted and out of line, the forceful river water wreaking havoc on the metal frame.

“All this is now is scrap. Junk. It’s a darn shame,” said Payne.

Another mobile home’s oil tank detached and spilled heating oil into the river and ground. Payne said FEMA came and treated the area like a hazardous waste site and cleaned the area.

The owners of the condemned homes have not been able to return to gather their possessions because their homes are structurally unstable. Payne doubts there is anything worth taking anyway.

Payne said the next step is a full neighborhood meeting where he will lay out all of the options and what it means to those who were forced to leave and to those who still live at Brookside Terrace.

“We are going to call a meeting of all of the co-operative and put a vote out to everyone. If we get unanimous, we will move forward and get this neighborhood cleaned up and get these people into homes again,” said Payne.

Hear about the role dams play in Suncook watershed on June 18

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 30 May 2007 18:36:00 GMT

Allenstown residents affected by the 2007 floods are invited to a public meeting on Monday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m., at the Allenstown Elementary School on Main Street to discuss the role dams play in the Suncook River watershed.

There will be a representative from the state Department of Environmental Services – Dam Bureau available to explain the process and answer questions.

Immediately following the meeting will be a public hearing to discuss FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant availability, specifically the buy-out grant process. A representative from the state Bureau of Emergency Management and Homeland Security will explain that process and answer questions.