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Red Cross helps Flooded Maine Communities
Allen Crabtree, Special to RedCross.org
Monday, May 15, 2006 — KENNEBUNK, Maine – “A firefighter from the Kennebunk Fire Department knocked on our door about 12:30 a.m., waking us up,” said Steven Chin. “He warned us that the Mousam River was rising and we needed to prepare to evacuate our home.”
Yetta Schoch-Chin and her husband Steven Chin lost their home to flooding in Kennebunk, Maine. They have taken refuge at a Red Cross shelter opened in a local fire station and are shown here with Red Cross shelter volunteer Sal Tancredi, May 14, 2006.
(Photo credit: Allen Crabtree/American Red Cross)
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Chin’s home on Intervale Street in Kennebunk is only about 350 feet from the Mousa River, and he had been nervously watching the river all day as the heavy rains continued and the water crept closer to his home. All up and down the Maine-New Hampshire border residents were advised to evacuate their homes as up to 12 inches of rain fell, including more than 8 inches in just 24 hours, and rivers rose to dangerous levels. Rising waters were dangerously close to overtopping two dams on the Salmon Falls River and nearly 1,000 families living downstream would be in danger if the dams failed.
“About 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning the firefighter returned and said we had less than an hour before the river reached our home. It was time to leave,” continued Chin. “We packed up a change of clothes, grabbed the dog and kids and fled in our car to higher ground. By that time the water was knee deep in the driveway and rising fast.”
Later Kennebunk firefighter John Everett told them that their house was under six feet of water and their entire Intervale neighborhood near the river was flooded, affecting at least ten homes.
“Steven and I have lived in this house for seven years, and we’ve never seen any thing like this before,” said Chin’s wife Yetta. “We’re not even considered in the flood plain and don’t have flood insurance.”
The realization that they are homeless is just sinking in, and they are anxious to get back to their home once the waters recede to see what, if anything can be salvaged.
“It is very tough not knowing,” said Steven Chin. “We had just replaced our refrigerator and some of our appliances, and they are now all gone. I also lost my truck, which is still sitting in the driveway and is now under water. However, our family is all safe and that is what is most important.”
Chin, wife Yetta, sons Michael (18) and Nikolas (11), daughter Danielle (8) and their Cairn terrier, Charlie, made it safely to an American Red Cross shelter opened by the Southern Maine Chapter at the Washington Hose Company Fire House in Kennebunk.
“Everyone here has been so helpful and compassionate. Sal even gave Danielle a small teddy bear,” said Yetta Chin speaking about Red Cross shelter worker Sal Tancredi. “She is very worried about her ‘babies’ – she has a collection of more than 300 dolls that I’m afraid are all lost.”
Red Cross shelter coordinator Judy Powell said that seven families came in for shelter from flooding on Sunday.
“We’ll be open at least through Monday,” Powell said. “But with the rains predicted to continue for several days, we’ll be here as long as we are needed.”
“The Southern Maine Chapter of the Red Cross has opened shelters in Kennebunk, Sanford, and Ogunquit,” said Dave Francoeur, Chapter Director of Emergency Services. “We have contacted several of our partners and are ready to open other shelters as needed when requested to do so by the York County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) or community EMAs.”
Maine Governor Baldacci (left) is briefed by York County EMA Director Bob Bohlmann (center) and his staff on the flooding situation in the area in Alfred, Maine, May 14, 2006.
(Photo credit: Allen Crabtree/American Red Cross)
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As Chin and his family were having a supper of Powell’s homemade goulash at the Kennebunk Shelter, York County EMA Director Bob Bohlmann was briefing Maine Governor John Baldacci at the county EMA command center in Alfred, Maine. The Governor has declared a state of emergency for York County.
“Between 100 and 125 roads in York County are closed because of the flooding, and the Route 1A bridge over the Cape Neddick River in York is closed. Flood waters damaged one of the concrete piers and the center span snapped,” Bohlmann told the Governor. “About 100 homes have been evacuated so far, but we are very concerned about the integrity of the Three Ponds Dam in Milton and the Spaulding Pond Dam in Lebanon. If these fail, a wall of water ten feet high could sweep down the Salmon Falls River valley with widespread flooding.”
He felt it could be worse than the October 1996 floods, where one person was killed and waters damaged more than 2,500 homes.
Similar flooding has closed roads and forced evacuations in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. Like Maine, the governors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts have declared states of emergency for the areas affected, activating the National Guard to help communities respond to the storm. New Hampshire has opened eight shelters, including four Red Cross shelters, and about ten shelters have been opened in northeast Massachusetts to deal with evacuees from the flooding.
While Maine Governor Baldacci was at the York County EMA, officials made the decision to warn 1,000 families downstream of the Spaulding Pond Dam in Lebanon and the Berwick’s and urge that they evacuate to higher ground. The Red Cross liaison at the command center placed shelters on standby should they be needed to house additional evacuees.
Governor Baldacci singled out the Red Cross for praise.
“The Red Cross does a great job with their shelters and other services they provide. I’m pleased to see that they are working so closely with you during this emergency,” he told Bohlmann and his staff at the command center. “By working together we can come through this.”
As the heavy rain continued to fall, Baldacci traveled to survey the two dams on the Salmon Falls River with County EMA officials.
“It is important that affected residents heed the calls to evacuate,” Baldacci advised. “People shouldn’t take chances. We want everyone to be safe.”
Rains are predicted to continue for the next several days, with up to four more inches possible before the skies clear and the flood waters recede.
Allen Crabtree is a volunteer from the Southern Maine Chapter of the American Red Cross and lives in Sebago, Maine where he is a writer, antiquarian book dealer, blueberry farmer, town Selectman, volunteer fire fighter and ambulance driver.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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