Public Works Mutual Aid Program Assists with October Flooding
October
8-9, 2005 brought devastating rains and flooding to the southwestern part of the
state. Although, the amount of
rain received is still under debate, many miles of roads were compromised
requiring state and local agencies to work long hours to ensure safe roads.
Three municipalities activated New Hampshire Public Works Mutual Aid.
The town of Walpole closed seven roads. According to Jim Terrell, we “had a lot of damage and needed help from a lot of towns.” Jim mostly needed ten-wheelers to haul materials and he had plenty of offers to help. Towns assisted for a three-four days at a time. Overall the help extended 15-18 days. The towns that assisted were: Derry, Enfield, Goffstown, Peterborough, Merrimack, Washington and Westmoreland.
Ed Thayer, road agent in Washington, received a call from Chum Cleverly, Bow public works director and founder of the Mutual Aid system. Chum offered to help and sent his deputy director, Tim Sweeney along with two additional trucks. Tim assessed the situation and returned with five trucks over the next two days. When the flooding first occurred, Ed didn’t think of Mutual Aid, he said that he “forgot about the resource.” Ed was “very happy and that the paperwork was minimal.”
When Kürt Blomquist, Keene director of public works sent a request on the Mutual Aid pager and an email for help on pw.net, Ken Daniels, Public Works Director in Enfield, answered the call.
Ken found two vaccon trucks for Keene by searching the Mutual Aid files on-line. Peterborough and Goffstown each sent a truck. The primary clarifier at Keene’s wastewater treatment plant was overwhelmed with grit and grease. Kürt said, “the request was a unique requirement and it was nice to have someone secure the equipment while I worked on other details of the emergency.”
The towns that sent crews to help were pleased. In Bow, the crew that went to Walpole liked being able to help out. Chum said that it was important to him to send capable employees. Derry found that sending people was a morale booster for those who went. Peterborough was happy to go and even stayed on a third day. And, Enfield said the whole thing went off “without a hitch.”
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) assisted local municipalities as well. The Bridge Division installed two Bailey Bridges, one in Hancock and the other in Unity. The requests for the bridges were made through Planning and Community Assistance (formally known as Municipal Highways).
To learn more about New Hampshire Public Works Mutual Aid Program, contact Kathy DesRoches at the UNH T2 Center (www.t2.unh.edu/ma).
Return to Winter 2005 Newsletter