By Paul Cuno-Booth
KEENE SENTINEL SOURCE
ACWORTH — The rain came and went in a few hours. But its impact is still being felt months later.
The 3 to 4 inches of rain that fell on Acworth on the night of July 29-30 washed out roads, damaged bridges and destroyed culverts. Around 30 roads — three-quarters of the town’s total — were damaged, according to an engineer hired to oversee repairs.
Today, several roads and the Forest Road Bridge remain closed.
The closures have affected businesses, blocked access to utility poles in need of maintenance, complicated EMS response and forced some residents to drive miles out of their way to access their homes, said State Rep. Judy Aron, R-Acworth. Town officials have said those detours often involve trips over narrow, unpaved roads or “emergency lanes” created on Class VI dirt roads, which usually aren’t maintained at all.
“It’s a public safety problem,” Aron said.
At a special town meeting Saturday, Acworth residents authorized the town to borrow up to $2.1 million to make urgent repairs before winter.
Town officials expect 75 percent of what they spend will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thanks to a federal disaster declaration requested by Gov. Chris Sununu and granted by the Biden administration. Sununu’s request described Acworth as the community hit hardest by the storm.
“If you approve this loan … the work will start on Monday,” Selectboard Chairman Frank Emig said before the vote, noting that the town had contractors lined up. “We have contracts to sign today if this loan is approved.”
The measure, which required a three-fifths majority, passed 80-5.
The town has already been able to do some repairs by drawing on its unappropriated fund balance, which required approval from the N.H. Department of Revenue Administration. Kathi Bradt, the town’s administrative assistant, said the town has already used about $400,000, for which it also plans to seek FEMA reimbursement.
But town officials have said those funds are running out and won’t cover all of the work that must be done before the winter freeze.
“If certain road repairs are not made before winter, there is a risk that Acworth residents could face prolonged blackouts and much-delayed fire, ambulance and police response in the dead of winter,” the town stated in its petition asking a court to allow it to hold the special meeting.
According to the warrant article passed Saturday, the work this fall will include repairing Crane Brook Road, Derry Hill Road and Charlestown Road.
Crane Brook Road, which leads to Bascom Maple Farms, a major syrup producer and distributor, is currently closed. According to the governor’s request for a disaster declaration, Crane Brook Road was so washed out that some sections will need to be entirely rebuilt.
Bascom is still reachable via other roads. But the closure of Crane Brook Road has limited access to more than half of its maple taps, according to Sununu’s disaster declaration request, and has also affected operations at nearby Cadillac Farms.
Repairing all the damage from the July storm is a larger project that will extend through next year’s construction season, officials said. Forest Road Bridge, which residents asked about at Saturday’s meeting, is one of the projects slated for next year.
Erin Darrow of Right Angle Engineering PLLC in New London, who is overseeing the project for the town, said the full cost of the damage is still being determined. After the meeting, she told The Sentinel that the damage in Acworth was the worst she’d seen in 20 years of working with towns.
Discussing the road work, voters asked a range of technical questions, from the financing to the failure of drainage systems to prevent the storm damage. The role of beavers also came up. “Besides the rain we got, two beaver dams collapsed, and that’s what caused Crane Brook Road to go out,” Emig said.
A second article on the warrant — whether to acquire a new highway truck for $135,000, through a three-year lease-to-purchase agreement — failed. Though it won a majority, 47-36, it fell short of the required three-fifths threshold.
Highway Supervisor Mark McIntire said one of the four trucks the town uses to plow snow is on its last leg. He proposed buying the new truck and keeping the old one as a backup vehicle, though some residents questioned the need to spend more on road equipment. Neither the Board of Selectmen nor the Budget Committee recommended the article.
While FEMA is expected to reimburse most of the road-repair expenses, it requires the state or municipality to put up a 25 percent match, according to officials.
Sen. Jay Kahn, D-Keene, who attended Saturday’s meeting, said he is working on legislation that would have the state pay half of that 25 percent match for communities in Cheshire and Sullivan counties affected by the summer’s floods. Aron, the state representative, and Sen. Ruth Ward, R-Stoddard — who represents Acworth and was also at the meeting — said they support that legislation.
Aron said she has also filed a bill that would set up a municipal disaster relief fund to help towns before FEMA funding becomes available.
Aron and Emig told The Sentinel that they have reached out to Sununu’s office to ask for financial help from the state but have not heard back. “We’ve made requests and haven’t gotten any response,” Aron said.
The governor’s communications staff did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Saturday afternoon.
“A town this size, there is no way we could absorb the cost of the damage on our own,” Aron said. “It’s gonna take us years and years to recover from this.”
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