A 16-year-old Barnstead, N.H., boy and his kayak were swept over the Suncook River Dam on Sunday evening in an attempt to rescue his dog from the raging waters of the river.
The teenager tipped out of his kayak while reaching for his 6-month-old black lab and was left clinging to tree branches in the middle of the river, yelling for help, all while his mother watched.
“The puppy was not a very good swimmer and he went in the river. He wasn’t doing well so the kid got in his kayak to rescue the puppy but 4 inches of rain in two hours was too much,” said Barnstead Deputy Chief Will Bartels.
Nearby neighbors heard the boy’s screams and called for emergency help. He was quickly rescued by the Barnstead Fire Department and was not injured. A few miles downstream, the puppy managed to pull himself from the river. Lost, confused and far away from home, the dog was struck and killed on Route 28 by a passing vehicle, Bartels said.
He was returned to the family early Monday morning.
At normal water levels, the height of the Suncook River Dam is 20 feet but with all the rain, the boy’s drop was only about eight feet, Bartels said.
The heavy rain sent high waters and surges down the river, flooding roadways in Pittsfield, Alton, Epsom, Chichester, Franklin, Pembroke and Allenstown.
“We lost almost every road in town; all 94 miles of them have damage,” Bartels continued. “The way we’re situated, the river starts in town where the dam is and goes downhill from there. Every tributary in town drains into the Suncook. As you can imagine, there were millions of gallons dumping into the Suncook.”
The torrents of water turned roads into rubble.
“This is very abnormal but unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more of a regular occurrence for us,” Bartels said. “We’ve had our fair share of natural disasters in this small town.”
The sporadic yet heavy downpours throughout the region caused flash floods that overflowed rivers and caused dangerous driving conditions. In the aftermath of the floods, municipal officials across New Hampshire are working to assess the damages, and repair what they can with sand and stone to open roads to emergency vehicles.
“The ditches and small streams turned into huge rivers and one of the small streams took over the road on Dowboro Road,” said Pittsfield Fire Chief Peter Pszonowsky. “We are in the process of putting sand down to offset some of the damages and we worked until midnight last night on just one road.”
A portion of Route 140 through Alton completely collapsed, cutting off many from the town’s center and surrounding towns. Towns and cities in Hillsborough and Belknap counties also experienced serious flooding and damages, said Vanessa Palange, community outreach coordinator for the New Hampshire Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
“Right now, we are calling all communities in the state and speaking with the ones we can get a hold of in regards to damage, what their cost estimates could be and we asked them to keep track of anything that needs to be repaired,” Palange said. “A lot of the community crews are out doing those repairs today.”
Once the damages are assessed, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials will determine if the state meets the threshold for disaster declaration funding, Palange said. Merrimack County, with a population of 153,800, will need to exceed more than $682,000 in damages while Belknap County, with a population of 63,700, will need to exceed more than $282,000 in damages, to qualify for emergency funding.
FEMA’s public assistance program provides federal assistance through grants to government agencies and some private organizations following a disaster declaration to quickly respond and recover from major disasters and emergencies.
With the amount of damage in Pittsfield alone, Pszonowsky is confident the county will qualify for the funding, he said.
“Right now, it’ll be at least a few days until our roads are back up and running but for the state roads, it could take weeks,” he said.