Berwick residents take stock of damage

By JOSIE HUANG, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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Staff photo by Jack Milton Casey LaRochelle holds a hose hooked up to a pump in the basement of her house on Rochester Street in Berwick on Wednesday. LaRochelle's basement was still flooded almost up to the ground floor.

WHERE TO TURN FOR HELP Maine's Flood Hotline:1-800-452-8735 For information on flood insurance, private wells and mold, as well as tips on repairing damaged homes and up-to-date road and bridge closures: www.maine.gov/mema For information about flooded wells: See this web site. Get It Done Construction of Sanford, 490-NAIL, has volunteered to pump water out of flooded basements in York and Strafford (N.H.) counties. FLOOD WATCH Heavy rains wreaked havoc in southern Maine, damaging property and forcing people from their homes. Get coverage and share your photos and stories here. To top of story

BERWICK — Casey LaRochelle's flip-flops squished loudly as she plodded around her water-logged house, taking inventory of what her family lost in its first flood. Black-and-white photos, re- trieved too late from the submerged cellar, dried out on the kitchen counter, rippling like parchment. All her niece's stuffed animals, wet and soiled, had to be thrown out. Nothing, though, was tougher than seeing the state of her hard-earned Volkswagen Passat, which had sat up to its sideview mirrors in brackish floodwater for several days.

With the water in the driveway finally receding to the roadway, LaRochelle opened all the car doors to air it out.

"We're going to change all the fuses and fluids and see if it will run," LaRochelle, 20, said hopefully.

The first sunny day after a run of rain that flooded York County gave Berwick residents a clear view of the damage left in the deluge's wake. Many of the 60-plus residents who evacuated homes along Hubbard Road and Rochester Street, two main thoroughfares located in the floodplain of the swollen Salmon Falls River, returned for the first time to check on their homes Wednesday.

Friends and family escorted them home, carefully navigating roadways that only days ago resembled rivers, requiring police and fire personnel to rescue people by rowboat.

Irving Potter, 84, began to shake Monday afternoon when he first saw his Hubbard Road family homestead of nearly 50 years. Floodwaters had crept past his prized plum tree, up the slope and soaked the ground around the blue Cape before filling the cellar to the brim.

The pipes under his kitchen sink had burst - from a surge in water pressure, he surmised - and several inches of water covered his kitchen, living room and bedroom. The vinyl flooring had already begun to curl around the edges.

Potter, who had been rescued with his hound-mix Hunter on Sunday afternoon in such a rush that he had forgotten his blood pressure medication, said he never imagined his house would suffer so much damage.

Within a couple hours, though, four firefighters had helped to pump most of the water out of his home. Potter returned to his old self, pointing out that at least the flood didn't ruin his wall art, like the antlers from the moose he bagged when he was 80 or the wood figurines his father chiseled himself.

"I feel much calmer now," Potter said, who was brought home by his daughter, with whom he had stayed in Barrington, N.H. "All we got to do is some mopping up here."

Potter's home was only the third to be visited by fire personnel on Wednesday, said Fire Chief Dennis Plante. This was quite a change from the 150-plus calls his department had gotten over the last several days.

Calm was returning to the area, said Plante, who noted that all the closed roads and bridges had been re-opened.

"It's drying out," Plante said. He paused, and looked up at a cloud passing over the sun. "Well, for now."

LaRochelle had tried to wait out the storm but finally left with her mother, Lana, and Lana's husband on Monday after they were warned that the Milton Dam nearby in New Hampshire could burst.

They brought along a dog and two cats but lost a third cat, who refused to come out from under the house.

They stayed at the Comfort Inn for two nights before returning to their home on Wednesday. But without plumbing or electricity, they would have to leave by nightfall, this time for the more comfortable environs of a temporary home offered by Lana LaRochelle's boss.

Lana LaRochelle spent much of her day on her cell phone, updating relatives about the house and contacting the companies that provide her homeowner's and flood insurance.

Casey and her boyfriend tried not to bump into her as they pumped out about six feet of water in the basement into the front yard.

They had all bet on how long it would take to dry out their home.

"I guessed several days, " Lana LaRochelle.

"I guessed five hours, but I think I'm wrong," Casey said.

Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:

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