New England’s flood recovery

Residents, business owners and public officials in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and southern Maine faced the daunting task of cleaning up after the worst flooding since the 1930s. The floods came after nearly a week of heavy rains.

The flooding hit the northern Massachusetts communities of Peabody, Methuen and Lawrence near the Merrimack, Ipswich and Spickett rivers particularly hard, turning backyards and basements into lakes and closing roads, schools and businesses. One estimate held that 14,00 homes in Massachusetts were affected.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch estimated that about 600 roads in his state were closed, and many of them were damaged. Further north in Rochester, Maine, some 2,000 homes were evacuated.

After appeals from the states’ governors and visits by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Bush Administration approved federal disaster relief for the stricken communities. Residents thus became eligible for funds to pay for essential repairs. Cities and towns became eligible for aid for infrastructure repairs.

The hopes of many turned to government aid because most businesses and homeowners lack flood insurance. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine have relatively low participation in a federal flood insurance program.

The Bay State’s total of 44,731 policies is a small fraction of property owners in a state with 6.4 million people. The policies represent about $8.2 billion of coverage in force statewide, at a cost of about $35 million in premiums, according to National Flood Insurance Program figures.

NFIP reports that less-populous New Hampshire has 6,692 policies ($1 billion coverage; $4.1 million in premiums) and Maine has 7,396 ($1.2 billion in force; $4.9 million in premium).

Many of the areas hardest hit are away from the coastline.

“Many inland homeowners never thought they would be susceptible to the flooding,” said Chris Goetcheus, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Division of Insurance.

Topics Flood Massachusetts Maine New Hampshire