Declarations

Rebuilt for Beach Season

“It’s unbelievable what the state has done… All things considered, the timing was OK for both of us.”

—Bob Mitchell, owner of Mrs. Mitchell’s Gift Shop in Hampton Beach, N.H., one of several businesses destroyed by a massive boardwalk fire last year. Mitchell and others have been putting the finishing touches on their soon-to-reopen businesses, just as the state wraps up the first half a $14.5 million facelift to the boardwalk and beachfront – an expected boon as the beach season approaches.

New Flood Zone

“It’s just devastating. These houses have never taken on water before.”

—Deana Raymond, of Burlington, Vt., where severe flooding has inundated homes and neighborhoods without previous history of flooding. Along Lake Champlain, people who’ve savored their lakefront views and easy access to the water are knee-deep in misery as a steady diet of spring rains and melting runoff from snow-capped peaks in the Adirondacks and Green Mountains pushed the lake to the highest level in its recorded history.

Preaching Preparedness

“Just because the economy’s horrible doesn’t mean hurricanes stop.”

—Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Fugate, speaking to attendees at the recent National Hurricane Conference in Atlanta. Fugate urged local officials to learn how to respond during hurricanes and other powerful storms and reminded them that a bad economy is no excuse not to prepare for hurricane season, which begins June 1.

Topics Hurricane