Also on today’s menu:
Fatal Death Along Route 16
Man Struck And Killed By Drunk Driver
About 14,000 people found themselves without power, the majority of them being Eversource customers, as heavy rain fell throughout New Hampshire on December 17 and 18. Flooding closed several roads, including Route 49 in Campton, which lies alongside a dam. Fallen trees took down wires and forced some residents to evacuate their homes, including near the Beebe River. The problem was complicated in the North Country and White Mountains by temperatures in the 60s that melted snow and caused rivers to rise quickly. In Gorham, a clogged culvert forced water into a wastewater lagoon.
Jon Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said, “This is going to be a historical river flooding event for this area.” The Pemigewasset River in Plymouth was expected to reach a major flood stage on Monday evening, potentially leading to water up to six feet deep on Route 175A in Holderness.
The southern side of the White Mountains received up to four inches of rain, and the National Weather Service said all three of its climate sites — Concord NH and Portland and Augusta ME — recorded their warmest temperatures on record on December 18.
Discussion: Had the temperatures been normal for this time of year, we would have experienced snowfall of two to four feet — something that was not uncommon during my childhood years. We have seen less and less snowfall as the climate has grown warmer, so instead of having to shovel snow, we have to deal with December flooding.
Fatal Death Along Route 16
Fifty-four-year-old Linda Gauthier of Gorham died and 60-year-old Richard Gauthier sustained life-threatening injuries on December 17 when 63-year-old Errol firefighter Bradley Eldridge, driving the department’s 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD truck, collided with the Gauthiers’ 2011 Silverado on Route 16 in Pinkham’s Grant about 11:37 a.m. Eldridge also sustained serious injuries in the crash.
New Hampshire State Police troopers and the Collision Accident Reconstruction Unit responded to the collision, with Eldridge transported to Memorial Hospital in Conway and Richard Gauthier taken to Dartmouth Medical Center in Lebanon.
Local fire and EMS personnel, along with the Jackson and Gorham police departments, assisted at the scene.
Man Struck And Killed By Drunk Driver
Kristina Perry, 38, of Franklin is facing a charge of driving while intoxicated after her Audi Q5 struck and killed Gabriel Anthony, 24, of Pittsfield, who was outside his Volkswagen Jetta, in the breakdown lane of Interstate 93 in Sanbornton around 10:38 p.m. on December 15.
State Police troopers arrived to find the Jetta in the median between the lanes of travel and the Audi Q5 about 20 feet down the embankment. Perry was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Discussion: These two incidents demonstrate the dangers associated with travel today. Some drivers always have been careless, but their numbers seem to have grown with the increase in speed limits. Defensive driving is helpful, but in some situations, even defensive driving is not enough. Route 16 is a twisting road, and one never can anticipate an encounter with a drunken or drugged driver.
Café Chatter
On ‘Outspoken Fascist’: One of the saddest things I’ve ever seen is Trump rally participants holding up “Live Free or Die” signs while cheering for him. Seriously, don’t they see the irony in that? For a man who freely expresses his intent to be a dictator. I guess not.
I can only hope that a number of people attending the rally go for the show. Not because they actually believe in him. Unfortunately I believe the opposite. And, remain completely confounded by them.
— Candace Skurnik
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