Columbus Day Flood

Everyone was looking forward to see how Rob and Sandy could possibly top the transformation of Camp Rob into a pirate ship for last year’s Halloween party. Pilots and their families made customs, the Vermont Hang Gliding Association scheduled a fall meeting for the same evening, Rob K from Wills Wing flew into town with several demo gliders, our regional USHGA director Gary was holding a CPR clinic, and Rhett stayed around to tow everyone into the sky. Too bad someone forgot to arrange the weather. I am one of the last people to turn away from a party and chance to fly, but I wanted to stay home after looking at the weather forecast. It wasn’t just going to rain; it was going to pour; not just Saturday and Saturday night, but the entire 3 day Columbus Day holiday weekend. However, once people commit to a plan, momentum soon takes over.

A dozen or so pilots and friends braved the drenching downpours and huddled around the campfire laughing at all the OTHER stupid people who showed up. The food was good, the fire warm, the company entertaining, the mud deep, and the rain relentless. I left the party with a witch and headed to the Claremont Motor Lodge to warm up and dry out.

The sound of a truck backing down the small road the room along side the motel interrupted my sleep. I looked out the tiny back wind and saw it was a fire truck with its lights flashing. The crew was not rushing so I assumed it wasn’t significant and went back to sleep. My sleep was interrupted again a few hours later by the hurried owner on the telephone telling me that we must leave immediately. What? She insisted that we must leave. I asked why. She said the river was flooding. Oh. I thanked her, looked out the window and immediately told Amy it was time to scram. I guess the fire truck I saw earlier was evacuating residents in the lower areas behind the model.

The Sugar River runs in a deep channel in front of the Claremont Motor Lodge. Normally the river is only a foot or two deep and far below road level. I was shocked to actually see the rushing water out our window. I have never seen the river that high even during spring melt. The water wasn’t just oozing along like it does in the flatlands; this water was crushing down the hillside dragging trees and other debris along for the ride. We tossed our stuff in the truck and zipped across the bridge wondering if it was still safe. Looking back across the bridge we could see water pouring into the parking lot.

We stopped at the bridge going into town and then drove around to the mill dam. I got a short video clip with my digital camera. You can easily see the water flowing over the dam and across the fenced-in walkway next to the building. After that we stopped by Dusty’s for breakfast and listened to everyone’s stories of flooding. Many parts of Claremont were already under water. Someone said that Newport was under several feet of water. Dams were breaching. People were being evacuated all over southern New Hampshire. After breakfast we listened to the weather radio and discovered that most of the routes home were already flooded, washed out, or closed due to impending dam failures.

We hopped across the river to check out the Black River in Vermont before heading home via Bellows Falls. There was barely a trickle running through the gorge on Saturday morning, but by Sunday morning the Connecticut River was thundering through the falls. Route 12, and the way home, was blocked by the raging Cold River in Walpole. We went south on Route 5 in Vermont and hoped the last bridge back over the river before Keene was still open. We were lucky and got back on Route 12 and headed south. Once in the Keene valley we faced more typical flood scenes with people towing cars out of flooded parking lots with whatever was available. We made a couple detours but were soon on our way home.

We finally started getting the whole picture by Sunday evening. It was tough seeing the damage to so many of the towns that I routinely fly over or land in. The hardest hit areas received 11 inches of rain in a single day and night. The governor of New Hampshire said this was the worst natural disaster in 25 years. After learning people died and many lost homes and property, it was easy to ignore the party weekend that was washed out.