[StBernard] Northeast floods force hundreds from homes

[Westley Annis]

Well, well, well...
 
Good Lord, if they're smart they won't let FEMA handle anything.
 
The Germans have a word, shadenfreude (sp?) which loosely translates as "joy
at other's misery".  I'm not going there but, hundreds...well we had
THOUSANDS!.
 
JY


 

	-----------------------------------------------------
	Northeast floods force hundreds from homes 
	Governors activate National Guard as torrential rains hit; more is
expected
	
	The Associated Press
	Updated: 6:38 p.m. ET May 14, 2006
	
	
	CONCORD, N.H. - Torrential rain forced hundreds of people from their
homes
	in New Hampshire and Massachusetts on Sunday, flowing over dams and
washing
	out roads. 
	
	New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
both
	declared states of emergency, activating the National Guard to help
	communities respond to the storm. Maine's governor also declared a
state of
	emergency for one county.
	
	
	"It's a very serious situation," Lynch said, adding that forecasters
were
	predicting 12 to 15 inches of rain by the end of the storm in parts
of
	southern New Hampshire. "It continues to change and the situation
continues
	to worsen." 
	
	A dam in Milton, N.H., was in danger of failing, which could send a
10-foot
	wall of water downstream, the National Weather Service said in a
bulletin.
	People downstream were being evacuated in the town. 
	
	The state Office of Emergency Management said at least a dozen dams
were
	being closely watched. 
	
	Flooding in Peabody
	In Massachusetts, cars were pulled from flooded streets in downtown
Peabody,
	about 20 miles north of Boston, and about 300 people were evacuated
from an
	apartment complex for seniors. 
	
	About 150 residents in Melrose, Mass., had to leave their homes
after sewage
	lines were overwhelmed, backing up into houses, Romney said. 
	
	Some parts of New Hampshire had seen 7 inches of rain by midday
Sunday and
	forecasters said up to 5 more inches might come during the day. 
	
	About 100 residents were evacuated from their homes in Wakefield,
N.H.
	because of concerns about two dams in the area. 
	
	Officials also reported a railroad culvert and embankment washed out
in
	Milton, with train tracks suspended in midair. And the local
emergency
	management office in Hooksett said the town essentially was closed
because
	so many roads were flooded. 
	
	'Three feet deep and climbing' 
	Tom Johnson said water was flowing on Sunday into the basement of
his Salem
	home, where a pump that handles 1,500 gallons of water an hour was
not
	keeping up. 
	
	"There are areas in my backyard that are probably three feet deep
and
	climbing as we speak," Johnson said. 
	
	Flooding in New Hampshire in October killed seven people, carried
off homes
	and washed away miles of roads down to bedrock. 
	
	In Maine, flooding was reported on 60 roads in the southern part of
the
	state, said governor's spokeswoman Crystal Canney. 
	
	C 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be
	published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
	
	C 2006 MSNBC.com
	
	URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12786790/