Weirs Beach Boardwalk Washed away!
 

Tonights storm did some major damage in the Weirs. The Boardwalk where it connects to the stairs to the public docks is washed out. I mean GONE, you can see under the tracks to the lake!!! Train will not be going south of Weirs Station for sometime! I am sure somebody whether it is the citizen or another news source will be taking pics. I didn't have my camera with me unfortunately. But I did break the story first on winni.com!!!

Wow
 

Holy cow...I travel to the lake every Thurday night, but not this week as we have a wedding this weekend. What am I missing?
So, tell me...are the stairs gone, or a portion of the board walk? I'd like to be able to picture it. If it is the boardwalk, were did it go? Was it wind or rain that did the damage. Any info, in as much detail as possible would be great...

Wow.

The Lakeside Ave. is OK until you reach the granite curb where the sidewalk runs between the street and the boardwalk, and then the hole starts. I'd guess 50 yards or so of the banking is gone under the boardwalk and rr tracks, taking the curb, sidewalk, fence and all ground and bushes under the tracks and boardwalk including what looks to be part of the town docks and steps. The tracks and boardwalk are intack, suspended in mid air over the hole. It looks like a sewage line is broke, and the Mount was unable to dock and I think is on its way to Meredith for tonight. Couldn't take any pics (to dark) but I'm sure someone will get some tomorrow.

Its like a Pink Floyd video.....

Rain, runoff specifically. Tracks are suspended in the air, twisted. Boardwalk twisted and sunken in, Light pole toppled. It looks like all the gravel is in the lake. I am talking about an area at least 50ft long by 30ft wide, washed out. I am sure there will be pics by morning. I just looked WMUR mentions it on the website.

I read this thread and then promptly jumped into my car. Just got back.

What a sight... I'm speechless.

So to confirm: It IS possible to drive to it? The road isn't blocked or anything?

Yes, the road is open.

The roads are open, but the tracks are a mess.

Major repairs are needed to the trscks.

R2B

Rt 3?
 

I am told that Rt 3 in Meredith is also closed in a couple of places. Is it even possible to get to Weirs Beach from Center Harbor via the usual roads? The closure list makes it look like the only decent way to go south of the lake from Moultonboro area is to head over to Rt 16 and then down.

I should clarify:

The roads from the south close to the Weirs are open. I did not look at the raods north of the Weirs or the roads north or south of Rt 11 near Patrick's.

We had a huge rain event! Two inches+ in a very short period of time. Looked like the 'Nam afternoon showers to me! :)

Got to pick up the pace of the Ark!

Noah, let's get moving!


R2B

unbelievable
 

The pictures on WMUR are shocking.:(

MUR has a list of road closures http://www.wmur.com/news/17126429/detail.html and I'm wondering how long it'll be before my husband is back home. He's trying to get from M'boro to the other side of the lake for work, and there's not many routes available to get him there this morning.

Wow that was one crazy storm. I live off of Hilliard Road in Weir's Beach and last night part of it was totally washed over and flooded-it has now receded. When it was flooded it sounded like a river running through. I saw many cars chance it and they all made it but still it made me nervous seeing them do it. There is a lot of damage on the sides of the road due to the stone/sand run off from the construction-development across from Cumberland. I just walked a good part of Hilliard road and took some pictures. There is stone from the run off everywhere and the damage that had been done to the sides of the road in storms past has become worse.

My husband called me on his way to work and said that 11B is down to one lane near I think it is Melissa Way-there are condos near there? He said the road is pretty damaged there.

I will be heading down to check out the boardwalk and train tracks soon.

This is just damage and can be fixed - it is so sad that poor little girl in Ashland that died. That is just a tragedy-her poor family.

Nicole

We were stuck on Rt 3 last night
 

We were on our way to the Corner House Inn about 6:00 last night when the downpour hit..We got from Gilford to about the Mc Donalds on Rt 3 in Meredith when we decided it would be impossible and dangerous to go much further, so we pulled into Hart's and ate there. When we were done, we headed back down Rt 3 and were stuck in a horrible tie up starting around Pirates Cove and we thought it was probably an accident. After about a half hour of not moving we noticed many of the cars were turning around and starting to go back. We finally found out that there was flooding and damage to Rt 3, looked to me like it was near the Tamarack. Anyway, we finally turned around and took 104 to 93 South and went to the Tilton exit and got back to Gilford that way. What a mess...what a week. Sunday and Monday were fairly nice, but the rest of this week has been just awful weather wise.:(

The weather has been unreal this summer. Makes it hard to get anything done outside!! My lawn is about 6" high because every time I have time it is raining!!

Some one get a picture of this thing on your trip down. Sounds like a mess that will not be fixed any time this summer. Lets hope for no more raine so that they can get the ground stabilized again before it all slides in!! :(:(

Boat?
 

Does anyone know if it's possible to get from Center Harbor to Weirs Beach without touring the state?

If anyone's going over to Weirs by boat today I'd love to grab a photo of the historic washout that way.

Historical question: Does anyone know if this has happened before at Weirs Beach?

I think you're ok by car, CLA
 

My husband managed to get from here off of Bean Rd to Gilford. He said he took Rt 3 and didn't go through the Weirs but there were no signs of impending doom or closed roads during his travels.

I'd love to get down there and take some pictures, but right now I'm dealing with the carnage in my basement. Everything was up on pallets, but pallets aren't high enough to deal with the amount of water we took on last night. Construction dumpster, here we come. Oof! :(

I think you'll be fine this morning. We had audience members stuck around Hearth and Home who couldn't make it to the Weirs for the show last night (a sold out house too! Oh well!) but by the time I left the Playhouse to drive back to Meredith at around 10:15 everything was clear.

I'm actually amazed how many audience members did make it in considering how bad the weather was. The vast majority braved the storm or at least tried.

It's always an adventure....!

Road Situation?
 

My family is heading up this afternoon. Our house is off of Hilliard at Pickerel cover. Can anyone let me know how the roads are?

Thanks
Amanda

Came down Waukewan St from rt 104 in Meredith on the way to work this morning and that street is TRASHED.One house has a gully the size of a cellar hole right next to it.The railroad tracks are underminded,same as the Weirs with all of the silt and stone washed right into the lake which is near the intake for the town water supply.Graders were busy clearing the road but there is lots of work to be done. Crews were all on the job trying to put things back together.

Anyone...
 

Someone must have some photos?????
Post if you have the time.
My best to anyone who may be affected negatively by this tragic event.

Camera Phone pic, not the best.

One more picture from this morning.

pictures
 

you can see a couple of pic's of the boardwalk and the fire at peddle pushers on front page of www.laconiadailysun.com

Boardwalk Washout
 

It's been a long time, but I remember the same area washed out in the mid to late sixties. At that time the asphalt walkway to the beach washed away and the tracks were left hanging in midair. The B&M Railroad and the Army Corps of Engineers were involved in repair and remediation. Guess the repairs weren't made to last forty years.

more pics
 

Some more pics of the damage

Flash flood washes out portion of Weirs Beach tracks & boardwalk
 

Flash flood washes out portion of Weirs Beach tracks & boardwalk
BY RAY CARBONE
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — In an event pubic officials said was unprecedented in modern times, a 120-foot portion of the sidewalk, metal fencing, boardwalk and ground beneath the railroad tracks along Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach was washed out during last evening’s strong thunderstorm.

Officials said that around 8 p.m., the rushing waters apparently rolled down Tower Hill in the area of the N.H. Veteran’s Association Campground, crossed Lakeside Avenue and slammed into the waterfront structures, tossing them aside like children’s toys. “There was a heck of a lot of water,” said Laconia Fire Department Lieutenant Mike Shastany.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,”he said observing the tangled mess of metal, cement, dirt, sand and wood. Police roped off the area, preventing an army of onlookers that filled the area shortly after the evening thunderstorm passed.

In addition to the main area of damage, firefighters reported two other sections of the nearby shorefront might have also been harmed, including a smaller section along Lakeside Avenue closer to Route 3, and an area not far away in Meredith.

Officials said despite the numerous problems caused by the storms — including a three-alarm fire started by lightning and serious flooding in some parts of town — there were no reports of serious injuries at about 10 p.m. Around that time, Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Paul Moynihan arrived on Lakeside Avenue to evaluate the situation. He entered the roped-off area and took a closer look at the washed out section.

One bright spot Moynihan noticed immediately was the water line that runs along the shoreline and is connected to the Lake Winnipesaukee River Basin Project did not appear to be leaking any sewage.

“I can see the pipe is exposed but I’m not smelling anything,” he said. “And my assistant (Luke Powell) was down here earlier when it was lighter and he said he didn’t notice any damage (to it). It may have a small leak but it doesn’t appear to have any major damage right now.”
All the same, a representative of the river basin project was trying to get to the site of the Weirs Beach washout last night, Moynihan reported. If there was reason to be glad about the sewer pipe issue, there were still plenty of reasons to be concerned about the damaged area.
An immediate concern to Moynihan was the extent of harm done to the railroad tracks. Early today representatives of the NH Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Hobo/ Winnipesaukee Railroad are expected to be on the scene to evaluate the situation, he said. “The DOT owns the tracks and the Hobo Railroad rents them for their usage,” he explained.

In the dark, Moynihan could not make much more sense of the tangled mass of wood, metal, dirt and concrete. He indicated he would ask Fire Chief Ken Erickson to move the public further back off the boardwalk from the impacted area since he was not aware of how strong the structure was in the wake of both the heavy storm waters and the washed out sections underneath.
One thing he did now was that it was “going to take a lot of work” to get the Weirs Beach landmark area back to what it once was.

Officials were expected to continue working and patrolling the area throughout the night and to be on the scene early this morning.

army corp
 

The Army Corp is not exactly known for quality work just look at the everglades, New Orleans and many other project they have done, unfortunately due to a supreme court ruling they take zero responsibility.

Maybe they will take advantage and do something new with the boardwalk.

My God...
 

Just sickening to see. My God...I guess summer will be coming to an abrupt end for "the Strip". As if things were not already tough enough this summer.
You'd have to blind and deaf to not realize ouir weather patterns in NH are changing at an alarming rate. A tornado touches down, we have daily thunder strorms of gargantuine proportions, and now this. What's next? 75 degrees on Christamas? Oh wait, that already happened...2006 (or was it 05)

video from WMUR
 

http://www.wmur.com/video/17132042/index.html

the amount of damage is amazing, and amazingly sad :(

Thanks for those pictures kaj. I was there yesterday afternoon escaping all the rain in North Conway and my wife and I were saying how good the weather was. It was a bit cloudy with some sun and we enjoyed being away from cloudy and rain. We left just in time it would seem. I also watched the live pictures of Meridith on WMUR last night. The amount of water was amazing. We only had a little rain in North Conway and the Saco river is going back down next to our campsite.

I was at weirs area at 9:30am. A passer by I chatted a second with said last night that water was very near top of that black fence along sidewalk. So, the bubble gave way!

In a quick observation, there seems no significant damage from the Ship's ramp & ticket office proceeding north.

The undermining was a little towards Laconia, as photos show, at the stairs leading to the docks. There must be catch basins clogged or just could not handle the amount of water coming from the hill.

The warm December and early January of 2006 was the effect of a very strong El Nino in the Pacific. It alters the weather pattern over North America. When it broke down in mid-January, the jet stream changed to allow the floodgates of the arctic to open, the lake froze very thick, very quickly, and the first few months of 2007 were extremely cold -- we had a white Easter.

The tornado and thunderstorms have been the result of relentless Canadian cold air masses that will not let our summertime air dwell in peace over New England -- we have felt them in the form of sub-70-degree highs the last couple of days. We're on the cold side of the boundary. These cold air masses barge into the warm air every chance they get, lift it, and storm towers form -- thunderheads.

Heavy precipitation happens when the air cools off, when warm air is forced to mix with and become cold air. Cold air can't hold as much water vapor as warm air. At some point, the once-warm air becomes too cold to retain its moisture, and the excess falls out. The more drastically it cools off, the heavier that precip is going to be.

Yes, things are changing, but the common denominator I keep seeing is aggressive behavior by cold air.

Incidentally, it's repeating today. Radar currently shows thunderstorms *parked* over the area just east of Concord along a line from Barnstead to Manchester. The slow-moving nature of these storms was really what got us yesterday. We've had heavier rainfall rates than yesterday but not usually sustained for three hours like we had yesterday. It usually lasts 20 minutes and then it's done. Storms are also firing (and sitting) on the Ossipees now, just north of the lake. More heavy stuff is moving in from western NH and will be here in an hour or so. The weathermap character responsible for this is a low pressure area parked over southern Canada, something I see more often in winter when it causes lake effect snow in western NY. This time of year, the counterclockwise flow around it is making use of the warm moisture of summertime in its path, and therefore doesn't need the relative warmth and moisture of the Great Lakes in order to create weather.

I forgot I'm in "general discussion" and not weather thread.... oops. Forgot to stay on topic. Well since I was just down at the Weirs, I can say I saw the work crews using an excavator to bash in anything over the washout that's unstable (like the ties from the tracks) and they're shoring it up with steel plates. The water has a pollution containment boom in it now. The Weirs is otherwise open, aside from the 100-foot section of washed out boardwalk to the west of the train station. The MOUNT and all its boats are docking and departing with passengers. Their HQ is open, as are the arcades and the beach itself. The docks are open (Gatto Nero docked there, with me aboard) and you have to use the MOUNT ramp to get to and from the docks. That's the way I always preferred to go anyway. Hopefully the MOUNT people are benefiting from the fact that everyone is now forced to walk past their operations in order to access the docks from the strip. Just don't stray too near the washout or someone will yell at you, and you obviously can't take a train ride until they fix the tracks. The Weirs may also be benefitting from everyone showing up to watch the happenings. What do you do when you get bored of watching them run machinery? All the businesses have their doors open and you can still park down there -- there's just a little less parking until they fix everything.

Looked like they were making temporary repairs because of what's moving in this afternoon. While I was there a well-dressed woman in a NH Resources and Econ. Development car (license plate - "D7") came into the cordoned-off area and parked. Channel 9 is there with a satellite truck. The cleanup process appears to be happening quickly, but the weather may slow it down. Pics coming in a bit.

Ok
 

Uuuummmm, yeah, Ok. That's what I meant to write...I was just pressed for time. :):):):):):):)

one lane of parade road was washed out as you go down the first hill. They were working on it this morning with big back ups

Aerial View Weirs Boardwalk
 

You guys all knew I'd be there, right?

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...hp?photo=13257

Nice pictures fly guy. Wow this is really crazy I can't believe what I'm looking at. Amazing so much damage in such a short time. Hope everyone is ok prayers to the little girls family

Thanks for this view of things:) Thankfully the sewer pipe did not break.
________
Desoto Suburban

That is going to take a while to fix :(

Flood Warning
 

Hate to say this, but the National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the area just o our west, where a large area of heavy rain and thunderstorms are coming from. We will likely get the same. Storms are popping up all over the area and are not moving very quickly. Within the hour most of us around the lake will have rain, and it will be heavy and continuous in some specific locations.

I am concerned for the previously damaged areas like those starring in this thread, along with others around the area that would've gotten the spotlight on any other day.

Remember yesterday's flash floods proved fatal... be safe everyone.

Thanks for posting this. I agree-be safe everyone. The loud thunder and downpours have started again here :(

Here we go again
 

Flash flood warning just issued for northwestern Belknap County.

Storms with heavy rain are moving in slowly from the west. That means they will probably also move out slowly. One saving grace is that the line isn't training over us like yesterday, it's aligned perpendicular to its general motion. Still lots of moderate to heavy stuff behind it though.

Raining like crazy again
 

It is raining like crazy again. Three cells just passed over Laconia and there is a ton of water running down the street.

More Rain ? ! ? !
 

On the fence about heading out again tonight. There was also a washout on Veasy Shores road right off 25 last night, with the raining coming again, not sure we want to cross that again. BUT - alas, our last night up here this year, so we are going to give it a try. Last night was CRAZY, we tried to go down to Weirs area for dinner, but as we all know, the road was closed, we ended up at Harts. While eating, they lost power. The lights came back on, and they did not miss a beat (and I did not stop eating). We sure picked a lousy week to drive up from New Jersey, but made the best of it. We were on the water every day but Wednesday. Both yesterday and today we got off the water just before the rain started. We keep hoping that it will clear up for the fireworks tonight, so we left the boat in the water, and will keep our fingers crossed. Radar shows rain now, but looks like it will clear later.

- ' Til next year

Channel 9 reported the Weirs fireworks were canceled due to the safety issues with the missing boardwalk. Might want to check on that if you're planning to head out. Any news on how the existing washouts have fared in tonight's rain?

For once I have some good news: The trailing edge of the rain is running north-south through the middle of Grafton County (the next one to our west) and is slowly moving east. Another hour or so, maybe 90 minutes, then it dries up again.

The reds on the radar have shrunk down to yellows, no intense rainfall is left on the screen. As daylight is fading, so is the rain.

The ultra-heavy precip skirted the Weirs off to the south and missed literally by just a mile. We enjoyed some nice moderate rain instead and added "only" another .54" to the total from yesterday.

We headed down to TJ's for dinner, then drove by Weirs - as you said, Fireworks canceled. Good to see that there seemed to be quite a few people out and about.

All of the roads we drove on (From Center harbor, through Meredith and down towards Weirs) were open, but there was a lot of washout along the side between Funspot and Tamarack Shack on the northbound side.

Radar looks clear right now, but I do not see any stars in the sky, so probably pretty heavy cloud cover still. I think I am going to take the kids out for one last night ride on the boat, we will just stay close to home in case any rain pops up.

I just posted a gallery of photos of the washout in PhotoPost, mostly shows them starting to work on it, Friday afternoon. Many thanks to Gatto Nero for riding me down there with his fam in the boat so we could all look at this historic damage.

Here are the videos showing the spooky rotation for the storm that did the flooding. Took a while to figure how to convert them to a format Youtube can use without degrading the quality too badly.

This is what first caught my eye:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVQMOMoTrAE&fmt=6

At :18 seconds into this clip, I am about as creeped out as any storm has ever managed to get me. This one did suffer some quality loss, the original video has much better definition in the clouds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfNqVOBLmd4&fmt=6

Flooding of the seasonal stream across route 3 just before the Naswa. Never in the 23 years I've lived here has anything like this happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RCVRrwOzuk&fmt=6

Scott those are some cool videos! Thanks for sharing I bet you were freeking out!!!:eek::eek:

Scott, those are some cool vids! I wonder how come they didn't issue a tornado warning for that storm?

I can't remember, was there a severe thunderstorm warning in affect? If so, that would cover a tornado. It would be interesting to learn what combination of factors causes them to issue a tornado warning, other than an actual report of tornado on the ground.

Scott, that video is sweet!

Picked up another 1.01" of rain along with a short period of pea sized hail this evening at the Weirs.

We got off lucky compared to parts of Gilford which got 4-5" of rain from a stationary storm this afternoon.

Heading up with the family tomorrow and wondering about the condition of the roads. We are staying in Meredith and planning on coming up rt93 and coming in on rt104 to get into Meredith.

Anyone think we'll have a problem coming in that way?

Thanks.

You should be fine. Bring you waders though!

update on progress?
 

Just saw 2 new pics in photopost - looks like they have taken the stairs down and dumped a ton of dirt in...
Anybody know what the rest of the plan is and how long it will all take? Just curious...
Ironically, we were planning to take a trip on the Winipesaukee Railroad when we came up for our week -which was the week the washout happened. We had not yet done it earlier that week, before the washout, because there were no nice days! I wonder if it will be running this fall?

NHKathy, the railroad is running but only between Weirs and Meredith. We went on it the other day.

True, although I noticed they dont always include the canned phrase about severe tstms sometimes producing tornadoes. I know they always include it when radar has detected weak rotation, and then upgrade to tornado warning if it becomes strong rotation. I can't remember if they had a severe tstm warning out that night though, or if it was all flash flood warnings. They must've been going batty.

At Black Cat we're up to 6.38 inches of rain for the month of August, making it the rainiest month since October 2006. Although that month has a higher rainfall total (so far,) the reason for all this damage has been the rainfall rate. Two inches of rain in 24 hours usually won't cause much damage but if you get an inch of rain in 15 minutes, watch out. We have seen some incredible rainfall rates in this year's storms.

Any word on what they've decided to do with the boardwalk, or if it's been further damaged by the more recent rains?

Weirs docks
 

Are you still able to use the Weirs docks and is there another way to get up to street level. I've always used the main stairs.

Dave M

You can't use the stairs because that is where the washout happened, but the other way up (which I always preferred) is to walk around the MOUNT's dock and up the giant ramp they have.

any new updates on progress? any new pics?

From what we could see from the water on Monday they had the washout mostly filled in, but still had a ways to go. Looked like the workers were putting in some gravel, then really packing it down, then putting in large rocks to hold it in, repeat.

There was a culvert pipe coming down from street level, not sure if one was there before the washout.

Current Progress 8/21/08
 

See the photopost. http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...=13377&cat=515

(Wish I could figure out how to post photos in the forum!!)

Get the picture on the screen. Right click, properties, cut and past the image location. Fomat as below but replace the ZZZ with IMG

[ZZZ]http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopost/data/515/Weirs_2386s.jpg[/ZZZ]

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...eirs_2386s.jpg

Looks like they are making great progress. I have one question though...
How do they get the yellow numbers to stay still in the water? :D

More Damage
 

Here are a few pictures from last week that I posted on my vacation blog. As you can see, there are extensive washouts all the way down the boardwalk. It seems like the current repairs are only the beginning. Notice the new cave behind the swings that reaches back beyond the railroad tracks.

flyguy
 

FlyGuy-

Just out of curiosity - what time of day was that shot? The complete lack of traffic (4 wheel and 2 legged) made me wonder if it was very early (which I think the shadows seem to indicate)

Around 8:45 AM. Everyone's still sleeping, I guess.

That's easy Chip,look how calm the water is behind the silt fence.

Good point. Maybe the entire shoreline of the lake should have similar silt fence to eliminate wake damage. Everyone could have their own shorefront sign! :emb:

Shush!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

The previous governor of MA is on the short-list for Republican VP -- don't give him anymore ideas about how to protect his property from us! :laugh:

DES guidelines, remember...
 

To eliminate wake damage, a silt fence must be installed in accordance with the example below: :emb:

Perhaps he could just build a moat...
Now that looks like it was effective!

progress is being made
 

Was up over the weekend and of course the Weirs is one of the first places I went to needing to see the progress that was being made on the washout. They have filled in and planted on the side banks of the "big" washout and collapse....looks like they have filled in partially the other wash out holes, but not completely. In my own personal opinion (which is based on nothing) I would doubt that any train would run over that part of the tracks until next year, but they do have the train running just before the messed up area. I do not think it will have any long lasting effect though, the Weirs was hopping when I went there on Sat and passed by on Sun., which is great news. I hope that everything is back to normal next year.

Testing
 

Just checking..never posted a pic before.

Much to my surprise, the Winnipesaukee scenic railroad resumed rides between the Weirs and Lakeport today.

This is VERY GOOD to hear! when my little boy was "into" TRAINS, we took him on this one a few times. Tomorrow at 7:30am we take him to COLLEGE for his freshman year.

Enjoy the train and your kids people!!!