82 homes in Goffstown are uninhabitable

GOFFSTOWN – Lynchville and Danis parks residents finally returned to their riverside neighborhood yesterday, finding backyards turned into beaches, holes punched through foundations and driveways, and film of mud covering their basements.

Nancy Congdon was relieved that her 9 Sonny Avenue house suffered only minor damage, compared to last year. Now, raised about 10 feet high, her first floor was spared the flood, but her basement and the belongings she stored there were soaked in water.

It won't take her as much time to clean up after this second flood. "I don't think I could do it again," she said. "I don't know how I'm doing to deal with this one." Some of her neighbors fared worse. Next door, town inspectors declared Tony Cole's home unsafe. He can't return until he fixes his foundation and fills in the gaping holes in the ground around his house.

Like Congdon, Cole has had to comply with a town order to raise his first floor above flood levels. The house was still under construction when the Piscataguog River again spilled over onto his property this week.

Cole had hoped to move within a month. Now he doesn't know when he will be able to do so. "I haven't even contacted my insurance company yet," he said.

There are 20 other homes like his that have been deemed unsafe, police Chief Michael French told the Goffstown Board of Selectmen last night. An additional 61 homes cannot be occupied, until their owners do the necessary repairs and schedule inside inspections. Of the total 92 homes inspected, French said only 10 are habitable.

Selectmen last night declared a state of emergency, invoking a new town ordinance that allows residents like Cole to live on their properties in mobile homes and trailers while they work on their houses-as long as they clear it with the town building inspector. The cut-off date is six months from now, when the board will consider a possible extension.

The board also voted to waive fees for building permits and the disposal of trash at the town transfer station for those affected by the flooding.

Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are expected to arrive in town tomorrow to begin surveying the damage to private property.

The cost to the town so far has been about $352,000, according to a preliminary damage assessment. The damage to the road system alone was $224,432. Last year, road damage was more than $1 million, French said.

That set the town Public Works Department back almost a year in its road plan. Director Carl Quiram said it will not take as long to repair the roads this time. "It's not like we're throwing away a whole summer this year," he told selectmen.

At the height of the storm, 19 roads were closed. All of them are now open, but police are urging caution on the ones that were flooded. French said the roads could also be periodically closed for more repairs.

A community meeting on the impact of the flood is scheduled for this Saturday, 1 p.m. at the Goffstown High School auditorium. Numerous town officials will attend the meeting as well as representatives from the state dam bureau, Division of Homeland Security, and other agencies.