Southwestern New Hampshire Rebuilding From Flood Damage: 'How Do I Recover From This?'

By By Christina Hager, CBS Boston

July 11, 2023 / 6:12 PM

WINCHESTER, N.H. - "Road Closed," said the sign where a stretch of Route 10 in Winchester, New Hampshire, is shut down. After flooding gutted about 800 feet of the northbound lane, crews were scrambling Tuesday to make it passable.

Road closed signs marked areas where flooding had washed out the roads/WBZ News

Right next to that, Tracy Paquette was emotional looking at his backyard oasis that he says took him eight years to construct. "I mean look at this," he said. "How do I recover from this?" Torrential rain broke a beaver dam in the waterway behind his home.

"The stream was just rushing. I couldn't even open that door," he said pointing to mud caked on the floor of his back porch and up his back door. "The water was that high!"

In neighboring Swanzey, roads were turned into strips of rubble leading into Pilgrim Pines Camp. "The storm came in and just hovered right over Swanzey, particularly right over our camp," said Executive Director Jim Condap. He helped evacuate several hundred people there during the height of the storm and resulting floods.

Throughout New Hampshire people are assessing damage to their properties, including Pilgrim Pines Camp/WBZ News

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