N.H. keeps eyes on skies as new storm looms More rain expected in already flood-damaged region of state

ALSTEAD, N.H. – Rescuers searching for missing residents after a major flood also kept their eyes on the sky as rain fell Wednesday and more was predicted in the next several days.

The National Weather Service canceled a flood watch for Wednesday, but said there could be 3 to 6 inches of rain in the saturated area in the next few days.

“It’s not a good situation at all,” said Tom Hawley, National Weather Service hydrologist in Gray, Maine. “Chances are better than 50 percent for renewed small-stream flooding.”

Officials were going door-to-door in some southwest New Hampshire towns to give residents instructions in case they need to get out quickly.

Alstead, a town of 2,000 people several miles from the Vermont state line, suffered the most damage from the weekend flooding. At least 12 homes were washed away along Route 123 and dozens more were damaged heavily.

Gov. John Lynch said it is difficult to put a dollar figure on the damage “but it’s tens of millions of dollars, clearly.”

Besides three people confirmed dead, rescue crews searched two rivers for missing people. They are three Alstead residents and a kayaker from Antrim, all missing since Sunday.

Search teams used cadaver dogs, airboats and helicopters and marked debris piles with Global Positioning System devices as they looked for bodies.

Logs were pulled away from two dams to reduce water levels, said James Gallagher, chief water resources engineer for the state Department of Environmental Service’s dam bureau. He told The Keene Sentinel that even with all gates open at the dams, more rain would cause the water to rise again, and there would be more flooding.

Meanwhile, members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation toured the flood damage Wednesday and met with Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster-assessment teams.

Sen. Judd Gregg said the state hoped to get an initial $5 million soon for such items as emergency housing, debris removal and restoration of communications.

“We are hoping that there’ll be assistance available for individuals, even for those individuals who have not had flood insurance as part of their home policies,” Lynch said.

After that, residents would be able to get different types of federal assistance, “in some cases outright grants, in some cases low-interest or no-interest loans,” Gregg said. “And those problems will be coordinated through both our office and the governor’s office.”

National Guard members helped telephone and electric crews get to homes cut off from most roads by the storm. By Wednesday morning, power was restored to more than two-thirds of the 1,500 homes and businesses in western New Hampshire that lost service.

The electric company, National Grid, expected to have most of the rest back in business on Wednesday.

The bridge in downtown Hinsdale, which was hit with the highest official total of 10.8 inches of rain during the storm, was expected to be back in service late Wednesday or early Thursday, and power was restored to nearly all of Keene, a third of whose downtown had been underwater Sunday.

Meanwhile, Verizon expected to restore telephone service by the end of Wednesday to up to two-thirds of the 1,000 to 1,200 customers who lost service during the Friday night-to-Sunday storm.

The known missing included Sally and Tim Canfield, whose house in Alstead washed away when the Warren Lake dam overflowed and sent a wall of water through their property. Only a gully was left; someone had planted an American flag nearby.

Also missing was Spencer Petty, 55, who was last seen Sunday on the banks of the Cold River. Kayaker Thomas Mangieri, 67, of Antrim, was missing in the North Branch River in Antrim, where he was washed away from a tree to which he was clinging before rescuers could reach him.

Tim Canfield’s brother-in-law, Rick Mason of Claremont, said the couple twice declined to leave.

Those confirmed dead were Steven Day and Ashley Gates, both 20, and William Seale, 64, of Alstead. Day and Gates died when their SUV plunged off a washed-out bridge into a river in Unity, while Seale apparently drowned when a river overflowed in Langdon.