By: Jenn McDowell

As 2007 comes to a close, we take a look back on the year.

One issue common to many towns in the Banner’s coverage area was the floods that came for a second time in two years.

Among our top stories of the year was the Hooksett Town Council’s decision to fire four town employees, which gained international coverage as the world debated whether it was fair to fire anyone over gossip in the workplace.

In Epsom, the historic meetinghouse was saved from the wrecking ball and the town reorganized its governance with new selectmen and a change in road agent rules.

Candia and Auburn wrestled with the need to solve school space issues.

And, just as families in southern New Hampshire began to recover from the 2006 Mother’s Day floods, another storm in April 2007 ravaged the region.

Communities, particularly along the Suncook River, saw devastation worse than the first time around. Many homes were left abandoned, roads washed away, and lives drenched and destroyed.

In Epsom, the Suncook River changed its course in 2006, bringing tons of sludge pushed in from the raging waters and redepositing it inside people’s homes, but 2007’s flood just made things worse.

Phone service and electricity outages were charted all over the area, along with washed out roads, many of which are still in disrepair.

In Auburn, a local woman had to be rescued from her convertible when she became trapped in the flood waters on Wilson’s Crossing Road, and the car began floating away in the strong currents. Fred McNeill, a Manchester town employee who was trying to pick up his son at Pinkerton Academy, noticed Colette Deusinger of Auburn in the front seat.

Paul Lynn, who owns nearby Turnpike Pizza, responded to McNeill’s cries for assistance and provided a screwdriver to rip through the soft roof of the car as Deusinger attempted to kick out her window.

Allenstown was once again submerged, due to many lowlying neighborhoods, particularly Riverside Park Drive right on the Suncook’s banks.

Marcia Abbott and Brian Gagne, who live in a small cottage they lovingly call “the gingerbread house” on Riverside were lucky enough to get some help with materials and labor from the Community Action Program, There’s No Place Like Home, Grace Capital Church and many volunteers.

The couple had just completely gutted and rebuilt their little home after the first flood, a luxury they were able to enjoy for just a few months before the April 2007 flood waters took over their neighborhood.

Studies on the flooding and how to prevent it from happening in the future have been in the works for months. The Department of Environmental Services held the first of three public information meetings on Dec. 12 in Concord regarding an independent study of the flood’s causes and the differences between the events in 2006 and 2007.