By Michael Cleveland
The Union Leader
MANCHESTER, N.H. — It doesn’t sound as if it will be much of a storm — a couple inches, perhaps less — but after the bad storm of less than two weeks ago, officials aren’t taking anything for granted.
In Manchester and Nashua, the fire departments, the departments of public works and emergency management officials are checking trouble spots like ponds and culverts.
And in tiny Lyndeborough, between Milford and Peterborough, where they had to sandbag the local church to keep the basement from flooding, fire Chief Rick McQuade said his department is keeping a close eye on two beaver dams.
The National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, last night forecast between 1 and 2 inches of rain today and a possible 10th to a quarter of an inch tonight with probably less than a 10th of an inch tomorrow.
Still, cities and towns are getting ready just in case.
In Manchester, for instance, the fire and highway departments checked culverts yesterday and lowered the water levels at Goldfish and Doors ponds.
District Fire Chief Jim Michael said they are watching the area around Walnut and Clark streets where a brook takes water to the Merrimack River has caused problems in the past.
“There’s a grate there that often gets clogged,” he said, “and we make sure it’s open.”
He’s not too worried, though, “unless we get a crazy amount” of rain.
“Last time (earlier this month) we got 5 or 6 inches and we managed it,” he said.
That’s the view taken by Kevin Sheppard, Manchester’s director of public works.
“When we expect a rain event, we always check culverts and make sure they’re free and open,” he said, but with 1 to 2 inches expected, he, too, believed the city was ready.
Ready, too, is Nashua where Deputy Fire Chief Dan Cronin said his department, the DPW and the emergency management department are targeting “all known hazards,” and cleaning debris out of storm drains.
They are keeping a close eye on several potential trouble spots, including the Millyard and the area near Riverview garden apartments, which is close to the Nashua River.
“We didn’t do too badly last storm,” Cronin said. “We’ve seen it worse.”
But monitoring of trouble areas, started yesterday, will continue as long as the rain falls, he said.
Lyndeborough’s McQuade said the fire department is monitoring “some friendly little beaver dams” that have washed out in the past, particularly on Van Ham’s pond and on Winn Road.
“Those have broken in mid-summer when we didn’t even have any rain,” he said.
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