FEMA tours storm damage at Hampton Beach, Rye. Will funds follow?

HAMPTON — Seacoast towns hope FEMA can help with emergency relief as they face hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage from two storms that hit back-to-back in January.

Town officials in Hampton and Rye met with representatives of FEMA Tuesday for a tour of the damage caused by waves and flooding on Jan. 10 and 13. They were taking preliminary assessments of damage in places like the parking lot in Hampton’s Bicentennial Park, which Town Manager Jamie Sullivan said was “pretty well destroyed.”

FEMA workers will now determine if enough damage occurred to meet a certain threshold to qualify the towns for receiving the funds through a disaster declaration. Rockingham County’s total damage costs must be $1.4 million to qualify for relief. The state’s overall threshold is $2.5 million.

“We’re going through the steps to see if there is,” said Vanessa Palange, spokesperson for New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Hampton, New Castle, North Hampton, Portsmouth, Rye and Seabrook have estimated more than $700,000 in damages from the two storms, according to initial figures presented to New Hampshire state legislators. The amount was expected to increase as officials continue surveying the impact of the back-to-back storms.

Previous story: Seacoast reports $700,000 and growing in January storms damage in push for state funds

Hampton, Rye facing hundreds of thousands in damage

In Hampton, Sullivan, Fire Chief Mike McMahon, and Public Works Director Jennifer Hale gave a tour to FEMA and Homeland Security and Emergency Management representatives of the storm damage. FEMA workers Kelly O’Brien and Vincenza DiMaio measured the depth of the holes in the concrete where erosion caused the pavement to collapse.

Other damage included the movement of sand at Ruth Stimson Park that buried benches. Across the street from Bicentennial Park, flooding on Cusack Road left similar damage in the parking lot formerly shared by Cinnamon Rainbows, as well as pavement on the road further west.

Elsewhere in town, flooding damage was reported on Drakeside Road and Towle Farm Road, the latter of which will need a culvert replacement. The town is also eligible for reimbursement of overtime wages for town employees due to the storms.

Much of the cleanup remains to be done, according to town officials. They estimated that 35% to 40% of the work picking up debris from the storm had been completed when asked by FEMA representatives.

In Rye, Police Chief Kevin Walsh and town officials gave a similar tour of the damage, which included the Harbor Road Bridge, Sawyer’s Beach, and the sidewalk between the causeway and South Road. He said Harbor Bridge Road was hit the worst, and will likely be the most expensive repair.

Walsh said it was fortunate the sidewalk damaged has part ownership of the town and the state, meaning both entities will bear some of the cost.

Officials in both towns said that repeat storm damage made it difficult to address repairs before the second storm.

“Saturday’s hit was a repeat of Wednesday,” McMahon said. “Any damage that might have started on Wednesday continued.”

Sen. Shaheen: Seacoast storm damage expected to qualify for FEMA funds

Town officials wait for an emergency declaration

McMahon estimated it could take a few months for FEMA to complete its work assessing damage to determine if enough was caused to warrant an emergency declaration. Walsh said he was optimistic the declaration would be made, given the severity of the damage along the coast.

“I think the costs the DOT is incurring for the length of Ocean Boulevard, that’s probably going to be tipping it up,” Walsh said of the threshold.

If not, an effort in the State House is underway to provide some relief for communities. Senate Bill 590-FN-A is currently in the Legislature calling for state funding to be given to Hampton, New Castle, North Hampton, Portsmouth, Rye and Seabrook to help rebuild broken or weakened infrastructure. The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, attended Tuesday's meeting with FEMA.

State officials say the two storms in January are not the only ones for which relief money is being sought. Two storms in December also resulted in significant damage that Palange said is being evaluated by FEMA.

Palange said storms like these have become more common, a similar one occurring in December 2022.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been seeing more and more storm damage, I would say, in the past few years,” Palange said.

Editor's note: State Sen. Debra Altschiller is the wife of Howard Altschiller, Seacoast Media Group's executive editor.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: FEMA tours storm damage at Hampton Beach, Rye