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Kmart sues RK Plaza, Merchants over floods

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:09:00 GMT

After five floods in the past three years, Kmart has apparently had enough, filing a lawsuit against RK Plaza and Merchants Automotive for more than $2 million in damages.

The store, located at 1267 Hooksett Road, suffered flooding to the parking lot and building on May 13, 2006; April 16, 2007; March 7, 2008; July 24, 2008; and Sept. 6, 2008.

Other stores in the plaza also suffered damage but were not named in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on May 11.

The document says RK Plaza failed to ensure the drainage system could handle floodwaters as outlined in its contract to provide sufficient water retention systems, as well a failing to install a $145,000 containment system and floodgates, which Kmart eventually installed on its own. RK never reimbursed Kmart for that system, according to the document.

Kmart spent more than a half million dollars to fix the store after the first flood, believing RK would reimburse those expenses, says the lawsuit, but that also was not reimbursed.

Merchants Auto was held responsible for the flooding by paving more of its car sales lot across the street from Kmart and installing drainage systems that actually increased the risk of flooding at the plaza, which sits lower than the Merchants lot.

Flash floods hit hard in spots

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:12:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Just as Allenstown wins federal assistance to buy up to 14 homes severely damaged in the past two years’ floods, it – and many other towns throughout the state – ended up sopping wet after Hanna hit.

The tropical storm swept up the coastline and through New England quickly, the first downpour hitting the state in the evening on Saturday, Sept. 6.

The storm dumped several inches of rain overnight, and brought with it winds of 40 plus miles per hour.

The next day, Sunday, Sept. 7, was spent surveying the damage and pumping out for many business owners.

For many road agents, it means being worried about spending money the town doesn’t have.

Hooksett Police Capt. Paul Cecilio said the Kmart plaza on Route 28 flooded just as badly as it did in the past two years’ floods.

Virtually every major route into and out of Hooksett was out of commission in the early morning hours of Sunday, Sept. 7.

“At one point, we had Mammoth Road closed, we had Bypass 28 closed from Whitehall all the way to the intersection of Route 3 and 28 because Kmart flooded, and we had Hooksett Road closed all the way from McDonald’s to that intersection because Kmart flooded,” Cecilio said. “At the same time, we had Route 3-A closed from Exit 10 going south because of a sinkhole where the new Lowe’s construction is.

“Basically, every major route going in and out of Hooksett was closed except for I-93 and Route 3-A from Exit 10 to Bow,” he said. “Other than that, every single major road was blocked.” “It rained, and it rained hard,” said Epsom Police Chief Wayne Preve. “We had a lot of damage, basically in the same areas we had trouble with in the previous floods,” he added. Roads slowly began opening around 6 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 7, Cecilio said. The highway and fire departments were out in full force trying to contain the water damage.

“It was as bad as the flooding we had a couple years ago, when we had to have the National Guard and everyone else coming in,” Cecilio said. “If they don’t fix that problem at Kmart, every time we get heavy rain, it’s going to flood.”

Epsom fire and police evacuated about 20 people from the Lazy River Campground on Goboro Road when the heavy rains caused the flooding water to rise about 2 feet in an hour in the lower part of the campground. “We got there around 3 p.m., and I was walking on dry ground. Within half an hour, I was walking in water,” Preve said.

Many chose to tow their campers out of the flooded area and brought them to higher ground in the park. The campground owner was also helping tow campers out of the rising water and mud, along with fire and police, Preve said.

Black Hall, Prospect, New Orchard, Swamp, Range, North, River, Droulet and Goboro roads were all washed out, Preve said, and there was also a tree down on Swamp Road.

“In some areas, there is considerable damage,” he said.

Epsom Road Agent Gordon Ellis said on Monday, Sept. 8, he planned on meeting with selectmen at their weekly meeting that night to discuss how the town is going to pay for the repairs the latest weather disaster left behind.

The town hasn’t even fully recovered from a tornado that ripped through on July 24. “I do not have enough money to fix the damage. I don’t think it’s going to get declared, so it will fall on the taxpayers, and I just have to do the best I can with what I have,” said Gordon, who said he and his workers were busy on Sunday, Sept. 7, clearing cow paths for emergency vehicles to enter areas still inaccessible by road.

“What I’ve done yesterday and today is make sure people can get in and out of their homes,” Ellis said on Monday, Sept. 8.

Sanborn Hill, Martin Hill, and Chestnut Pond were the hardest hit areas this time, he added.

There are no preliminary estimates of the damage but it wasn’t as bad as the spring floods of the past two years, Ellis said, because they used a lot of erosion stone when they rebuilt the roads after the last flooding episode.

Most of the roads in question are unpaved. Ellis said it’s not financially feasible to pave them because the drainage repairs that would have to be made are astronomical compared to the simple paving of the road itself. “Drainage most of the time costs more than the pavement that’s on top,” said Ellis. “If you’re drainage isn’t right, it’s not going to last.”

Earlier this year, Allenstown residents voted down every monetary warrant article on the ballot, including one asking voters to help fund a matching grant to fix a culvert on Mount Delight Road that was reduced to pieces during the 2007 floods.

Mount Delight Road was washed out again when Hanna hit, and Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said it’s a situation that could have been avoided if the culvert had been fixed.

While Allenstown was just awarded $2 million in federal grants to buy flood damaged homes, Mulholland said its unlikely the $10,000 or so in damage Hanna caused would qualify for assistance.

The storm caused erosion damage on Deerfield Road and Campbell Street, Mulholland said, and water flooded the culde- sacs on Jasper Drive, Alban Avenue and Riverside Drive. These areas were seriously affected by the 2006 and 2007 floods. Mulholland said the water pooled on their lawns, but did not reach the homes again. “Obviously, this caused a great deal of concern down there. We had an officer stationed down there,” Mulholland said.

Residents in the Deerfield Road area lost power during the storm Mulholland said. Several trees came down around town, he added.

FEMA pays for flood study

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:15:00 GMT

By JENN McDOWELL

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is funding an independent study on the 2006 and 2007 flooding of New Hampshire rivers.

The Suncook River is one of the prime focus areas of the study, which will look into the differences between the two flooding episodes, possible reasons for the excessive flooding and ways to reduce flood impact in the future.

The first of three public forums on the study was held at the Department of Environmental Services in Concord on Dec. 12. The study looked at whether improvements can be made to dam operations, as well as how emergency response can cut down on future flooding impact.

FEMA’s interest in the study is to reduce the magnitude of their response, said Jim Gallagher, head of the state Dam Bureau.

FEMA has spent about $30 million on responding to the flooding throughout the state according to Albie Lewis, who was FEMA’s federal coordinating officer during the May 2007 flood.

The study, which costs about $330,000, is being conducted by international engineering firm URS Corporation, and will be overseen by independent experts in water resource management.

“They’re really taking a fresh look at this,” said Gallagher about the researchers involved, who are engineers being consulted by weather experts and emergency management personnel.

Lewis said Gov. John Lynch called him personally about finding a way to fund the study through FEMA.

According to Lewis, one of the study areas will be the amount of sediment along the riverbeds. When sediment builds up along a river’s bottom, it decreases the amount of space for the water to travel through between the banks.

This is particularly important for the Suncook River, where such a buildup of sediment in Epsom caused an avulsion, or a change in the river’s course of direction, during the May flooding. This may be one of the reasons for the worse flooding and the increased amount of flood damage in Epsom and towns downstream, such as Allenstown.

The two floods were not consistent with historical flooding statistics, particularly for the Suncook River.

“Over the years, without a heavy flow of water, sediment fills in channels of the river. When that happens, water overflows its banks,” Lewis said.

The rain totals for the May 2007 event were significantly less than those from the 2006 floods, prompting questions as to why the flooding would be so much worse the second time around.

Researchers looked at high-water marks of the 2007 floods and compared them to those of the 2006 floods, finding the more recent to be higher. This points to a possible increase in the amount of sediment along the river bottoms, Lewis said.

The study will also include an analysis of the dam operations along the various rivers included in the study. Researchers will look at flow analysis, average daily flow, the height of such dams at low and high water marks, and the general operations at the dams.

The Webster Dam on the Suncook in Pembroke is of particular interest to researchers said Gallagher. Interviews will be conducted at the Webster Dam and others around the state to determine what was done at the time of the flood and how problems were addressed.

Lewis added the study will include looking at wetlands that typically absorb excess water from the rivers in question. The less water in such wetlands the more there is in the river itself, he explained.

In March, researchers will hold another public meeting to present their interim findings before compiling a final report on the study, which should be completed in May.

2007 Top stories: Hooksett 'fired four,' more floods

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:26:00 GMT

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.