Dennis Ford, maintenance supervisor for DOT, says that due to the torrential rains, Cardigan Mountain Road between the Town House and Tuttle Hill Road is closed until tomorrow morning. The rain prevented the crew from completing the culvert work. So: the road wasn’t washed out again, and the repairs can continue.
We’ll take good news where we get it.
Because of the road construction, the Town Clerk can’t get to the Town House. So Town Clerk hours have been moved to Thursday, August 8, 4:30 to 6:30.
As usual, the change is reflected in the calendar.
Dorothy Heinrichs drives across the new bridge. Paving comes later. And don’t forget, culvert work could cause 15-minute delays starting Monday from 8 to 4.
Town Clerk Amy Tirpaeck writes:
Kami Stone and I have completed our certification training and are ready for office hours (with your patience as we gain experience with our new roles)!!
Standard Town Clerk Office Hours include the first Saturday morning and all Wednesday early evenings.
For August:
Saturday, August 3: 9-11:00am
Wednesdays, August 7, 14, 21, 28: 4:30-6:30pm
As always, you’ll find Town Clerk Hours and the other Orange events in the Calendar.
Thanks to Doug and Trish Weekes, who recorded the rainfall amount, the July 11 rains constitute a thousand-year event. Vanessa Urango of the NH Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management sent the Weekes’ data to the National Weather Service for validation.
The feds quickly validated the data. “It is now the highest rainfall total reported!” Vanessa wrote. “And for reference, we looked at NWS recurrence intervals for rainfall events, and it appears that the rainfall that fell at that location in Orange (where approximately 5.58 inches of the 6.83 total fell in a span of 2 hours) is a 1,000+ year event!”
Five and a half inches in two hours. One officially for the record books.
Selectboard Chair Dorothy Heinrichs writes:
Please join us 9:30am Monday, August 5, at the intersection of Cardigan Mountain Road and New Colony Road for a special ribbon cutting.
For three weeks, teams of DOT workers have shown up before 6am and stayed late to replace this vital connector and open the road for residents and for visitors to Cardigan Mountain State Park. They deserve our thanks.
The Commissioner of NHDOT will there, and I’m inviting our state reps and state senator, as well as any interested press.
If you have any questions, you can me at 203.257.2689 or at nhdorothy@gmail.com.
We’ve come such a long way in such a short time since the flash flood of July 11, thanks to our own Town volunteers and our state. I can’t wait to celebrate.
Dorothy
First, the good news: the bridge work is going well, with the new guardrail on the downstream side already in place. The upstream guardrail is due for installment on Thursday. Meanwhile, workers are armoring the culvert below the bridge with stone.
Which means that this Friday, August 2, the bridge open to two-way traffic over gravel. A small ribbon cutting is planned; DOT Commissioner Victoria Shaheen has been invited.
Now the inevitable news: the road isn’t done. The crews will be turning to culvert repair along Cardigan Mountain Road. The work should last into next week, during which the road will be open for local traffic only. From 8am to 4pm each day, residents may have to wait as long as 15 minutes to get through.
After that, repaving. Five inches of new pavement will be laid down sometime in late summer or early fall, from the Town House to the bridge.
DOT workers pour concrete on Cardigan Mountain Road below New Colony. State trucks are able to get across the brook, and two-way public traffic will be allowed soon.
“Things are moving really fast now,” a state DOT supervisor told us. Depending on when the new guardrails arrive, the bridge may be open (two lanes!) by the first weekend in August.
We’ll provide updates as we get them.
Andrew Terhune sent a couple of photos of 120 Townhouse Road from the 1800s. We’ll post more historical material as we get it. Lots to come from all the great celebrations of our 250th.
You can find history photos here.
I’ve been told that some Orange residents want to receive the updates from Orangenh.US but don’t know how to sign up. Please forward this to anyone who might fall into that category.
It’s easy to register. Just enter your name and email address here. The list is kept completely private.
Note also that you can do a lot of Town business through the site, including registering your car. Any glitches have been worked out with the Town Clerk’s office. Dorothy and I found the process very quick and easy.
Let me know if you have any problems or suggestions for the site.
Jay
New Colony and Tug are passable, and the Town crew moved to Williams yesterday. Scott Sanborn offers a complete report on conditions and cautions.
Read MoreThe storm caused “extensive” damage, according to the Canaan Motor Club’s Facebook page. All events are cancelled for the season.
The club has a nifty website that shows good video of the track before the storm, but it still shows coming events. If you want to keep posted about the club, you’ll have to go on Facebook. Or make sure you’re signed up for emails from Orangenh.US!
-Jay
The Canaan Transfer Station is back in action after the floods.
Sunday: Center Closed
Monday: Center Closed
Tuesday: 2 p.m.-6 p.m.
Wednesday: 7 a.m.-11 a.m.
Thursday: 2 p.m.-6 p.m.
Friday: 7 a.m.-11 a.m.
Saturday: 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
Paul Hatch, a field representative for the NH Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, notes that no FEMA assistance is available to homeowners. That only happens when the President declares a federal emergency.
Instead, if you’re looking for assistance, call the state hotline, 2-1-1. “Once folks are registered, we will follow up with them individually and do case management to see if we can match up some type of assistance to help them with their needs,” Paul says. He adds that the agency is working with other volunteer and social service agencies to try and fill the gaps wherever possible.
If you want to reach the agency directly, call 271-2231.
Tug Mountain Road is passable, and work on Williams Road has begun. Click for photos and details.
Read MoreRoad Agent Scott Sanborn writes:
I will spend the rest of the day continuing to log in damage for FEMA application and thinking about the potential for more heavy rain late this week and anything we can do to protect the most vulnerable spots in the short term.
I will update on Tug as the day progresses.
Also, I’m told DOT will be hauling on Burnt Hill Road soon, so I will try to get some cautionary signage out – drivers beware!
Because of our Town’s road problems, Town Clerk Amy Tirpaeck reports that the office will be closed this Wednesday, July 17. She plans to be open for business as scheduled on the following Wednesdays, July 24 and 31. As always, you can find openings (as well as other Orange events) on the calendar.
And don’t forget, you can renew your vehicle registrations and find other forms online by clicking here.
Dorothy Heinrichs reports on all we’ve learned as of midday Saturday. All but Tug Mountain and Williams Roads are passable; it will be a couple weeks before the bridge over Orange Brook on Cardigan Mountain Road can be replaced. Here are details, pictures, and where to report or get info.
Read MoreSandi sent this in.
Road closures in Orange due to yesterday's heavy rain are New Colony Road, Cross Road, Tuttle Hill, Williams Road and Wheeler Road.
Burnt Hill, Wild Meadows (Grafton) and River Road leading to East Grafton (and Route 4) are passable.
Scott, Richard Remacle, and Bobby Senter (Razor Hill) are working diligently to open all roads as soon as possible, the priority being New Colony.
Because Cardigan Mountain Road, a State road, has had significant damage just beyond the Town House and, more severely, the bridge at the Basin, there is presently no access to Canaan if you live beyond the Town House. The NH DOT is presently at work getting the lower section passable, but the severity of Basin bridge, just below Peaslee and New Colony, will no doubt take much longer.
Dorothy just sent me this. I’m traveling today but will try to continue posting when I can—Jay
Just off phone with Scott Sanborn. Bobby Senter is starting work from the bottom of New Colony. Aaron Allen is working up top
The state is assessing bridge at New Colony.
Richard Remacle is working to get Cross Road passable.
Tuttle is passable.
Williams is not.
No word on Tug..