assessment investigates severe floods

The flooding that occurred in New Hampshire in May 2006 shocked the region with its extreme water levels. At the time, it may have been possible to dismiss the event as another freak occurrence in a region known for unpredictable weather. When severe flooding hit the state again in April 2007, however, it was difficult to consider it just another random phenomenon.

What caused the flooding? And what can be done to avoid more flood-related destruction in the future?

Experts will try to answer these questions in coming months. The N.H. Department of Environmental Services recently announced that an assessment has been commissioned to determine the causes and effects of some of the worst flooding New Hampshire has ever seen.

After the recent floods, “people had questions,” said Jim Gallagher, chief engineer of the DES Dam Bureau. So, Governor Lynch asked the federal government to help fund a study to answer those questions.

assessment investigates severe floods

The flooding that occurred in New Hampshire in May 2006 shocked the region with its extreme water levels. At the time, it may have been possible to dismiss the event as another freak occurrence in a region known for unpredictable weather. When severe flooding hit the state again in April 2007, however, it was difficult to consider it just another random phenomenon.

What caused the flooding? And what can be done to avoid more flood-related destruction in the future?

Experts will try to answer these questions in coming months. The N.H. Department of Environmental Services recently announced that an assessment has been commissioned to determine the causes and effects of some of the worst flooding New Hampshire has ever seen.

After the recent floods, “people had questions,” said Jim Gallagher, chief engineer of the DES Dam Bureau. So, Governor Lynch asked the federal government to help fund a study to answer those questions.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will fund the study, which is expected to cost around $330,000. FEMA, which works under the umbrella of Homeland Security, chose an international construction and engineering firm, the URS Corporation, to conduct the assessment. In recent years, the San Francisco-based company has become one of the nation’s top defense contractors, providing service in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Gallagher, FEMA will use funds from a disaster management account to pay for the study.

“After disasters, there is a certain amount of funding to do studies to reduce flooding in the future,” he said.

A separate, independent panel of water resource experts will oversee the assessment to ensure its quality and independence. That three-person panel includes Jerry Galloway, a water resources expert who helped evaluate the breach of New Orleans’ levy system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The panel will also include a U.S. Geological Survey staff member and Tom Sullivan, an engineer from the New Hampshire-based firm Gomez and Sullivan, which specializes in water resources. Governor Lynch and the DES requested the independent panel when they were asking for funding. “They will be another layer, another set of eyes on the situation,” Gallagher said.

Central to the assessment’s mission is to determine whether faulty dams had anything to do with the flooding. In New Hampshire, the flow of several rivers is still interrupted by dams. Many of the dams were built during the Industrial Revolution and have little value today beyond their cultural importance. A number of dams are under review by the DES to see if the old structures should be removed. Right now, the Winnicut Dam in Greenland is in the process of deconstruction. In the meantime, the assessment will look into whether New Hampshire’s dams contribute to floods or help contain them.

During the study, the DES will play a support role, offering logistical help and organizational resources. The URS Corporation will be responsible for more technical tasks, like creating computer-aided models and analyzing mountains of data collected over the past two years. The team hopes to determine the causes of flooding in the Piscataquog, Souhegan, Soucook, Suncook, Contoocook, Cocheco, Lamprey, Oyster, Salmon Falls and Isinglass river basins. The team will also examine the policies, programs and mechanisms for coordination of flood control and public notification in flood-prone areas, and will provide recommendations for improving water management procedures and dam operations to reduce the impacts of future floods.

The public will have several opportunities to get involved with the assessment through a series of public meetings. The first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m., in the auditorium of the DES building on Hazen Drive in Concord. The hearing will introduce the assessment team and outline its approach. The second meeting will take place in mid-March and will allow the team to present interim findings. The final public meeting will be held in May, when the team will present its final results.  

Once the assessment is complete, the DES will have an opportunity to implement any policy changes deemed necessary. One possible policy change would be to institute better coordination between communities located upstream and downstream of dams. Gallagher is confident that the assessment will reveal differences between conditions leading up to the May 2006 floods and those that led to the April 2007 floods. However, he stopped short of making predictions about what specific conclusions the team will reach.

“It’s honestly just getting underway. We’re looking at (the issue) with a clean slate,” he said.