Assistance elusive for Keene community devastated by storm

This story was originally produced by the Keene Sentinel NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.

“Nathan had just come in from mowing the lawn. We were just sitting down in our room watching TV. All of a sudden it just got really dark.”

Jessica Taylor described what it was like watching the fierce July 16 storms roll over her family’s manufactured home at Tanglewood Cooperative in Keene.

“We could see clouds forming. … We could see the storm approach. And it literally, just in seconds, a tree was coming through our bedroom, the roof of our bedroom,” she said of the moments that followed.

“The ceiling’s falling down on [my husband]. I’m trying to get our child under the kitchen table. We had two dogs, three guinea pigs and a rat that we, you know, I had to check on.”

The storms that struck Keene that evening were largely isolated to the manufactured housing community where Jessica, her husband, Nathan, and 14-year-old son live. While most of the Elm City was largely unscathed by the heavy winds and rain, the city estimated Tanglewood Cooperative sustained more than $1.5 million in damage, according to Elizabeth Dragon.

The Taylors’ house was one of 10 “red-tagged” by the city, meaning it was deemed unlivable. However, 50 buildings in Tanglewood had trees fall on them, according to the community’s Operations Manager Devon Livingston.

And trees are still falling. One landed on a destroyed home just this week, Livingston said. “And it was sunny and 75.”

But as Tanglewood residents look to carve out a road to recovery, falling trees aren’t the only obstacle; they’re also contending with the absence of federal disaster help, insurance decisions that are too slow, and payments that won’t stretch far enough.

‘Won’t even cover a dumpster’

Tanglewood residents were hopeful their community would receive federal recovery funding. But after evaluating the possibility of disaster declarations for Cheshire and Hillsborough counties in the wake of the July 16 storms — which produced a tornado in Lyme and straight-line wind damage in Milford — state officials concluded the damage was not enough to move forward with the next steps in this process.

“We have looked into it, and … we do not have the damage needed to make that request,” said Megan Hoskins, assistant director of the N.H. Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Tanglewood residents want the state to reevaluate, and are gathering evidence to try to convince officials to push their case forward to seek recovery funds through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At a recent meeting the Tanglewood board led with residents, this and other storm recovery efforts dominated the conversation.

At the front of the small office building on Sparrow Street, with people filling any seat, and standing in any nook and cranny they could find, Jessica Taylor sat with her husband. She would switch from sitting upright in her seat, to hunched forward, her elbows pressed into her knees and her face buried in her hands.

Earlier that same day, the family found out their home insurance will cover only a fraction of the cost to get back on their feet. Nathan said the company will pay the outstanding mortgage of $850 on their destroyed home, along with contributing $500 toward its demolition.

“500 won’t even cover a dumpster,” Nathan said, and he added a new mobile home would cost significantly more than when the family purchased theirs a few years ago.

Jon Scott and his family’s home was also red-tagged.

“Everybody was in shock. It was very terrifying,” the Tanglewood resident of 20 years said of his family’s experience during the storm. In addition to his wife, son and mother-in-law, who all shared the house, the family had guests in town when it hit.

Six people were in the home when it began shaking, “and all of a sudden a thunder’s boom right above our head,” he said. “So a big tree fell directly above us in the kitchen, but we all ducked for cover under the table and tried to find spots.”

Scott, his wife and son have been staying with a friend, and his mother-in-law with family, awaiting news from their insurance company. “They are slowly responding back to me, but it’s taking forever,” he said.

“Overall, I’m [in] good spirits because … nobody had any control of this, what’s happening. The only thing that’s irritating is the insurance, having to wait so long for the insurance company just for an answer as to what’s going on.”

Like Scott, Laura Gruebel’s house was also hit by a tree. It came through the back wall. And like Scott, she’s unhappy with her insurance company.

Even though her house is red-tagged, she and her fiancé are still living in it. “But now it’s starting to get a little chilly out, and we’re not sure what we’re gonna do, because [the insurance company] still [hasn’t] made a decision on the house yet,” Gruebel said.

“We’ll figure it out, but I don’t see how we’re figuring it out before winter.”

Individually unassisted

The city estimated the storm caused $1,483,500 in damage to Tanglewood’s buildings and another $300,000 to its grounds. The latter includes the cost of tree removal, which the cooperative has spent $260,000 on to date.

Still, this wasn’t enough to qualify for FEMA money, and Tanglewood’s next attempt is also unlikely to yield the funding.

“We applied the system to [Tanglewood] the best that we could, and they don’t meet the requirements of the system,” the city’s Emergency Management Administrator Kürt Blomquist said. He’s been the bridge between Tanglewood and state officials.

“It is certainly devastating for a community…we’re a community of 23,000 so certainly loss to 10 homes is a hit for us,” Blomquist said.

However, “[the] federal government is not going to set a standard where any community in the country that has 10 homes damaged, they’re going to pay out,” he noted.

Any money from the federal government would be “greatly appreciated,” Jessica Taylor said.

“We are in need,” she said. “There are other families in this park that are in need, and we all need help.”

With the Taylors’ home destroyed, Jessica’s mother took the family in, making for a total of 10 people and seven dogs under the one roof.

Until recently, they had to board their dogs. “Obviously, they’re a source of comfort for us, so we’ve lost that,” Jessica said. Fortunately, the family reunited with their pets last week.

Jon Scott said it’s hard to watch his community go through this. “This is like the worst planning ever, just because of the economy and inflation and interest rates, it hurts you to see all that,” he added. Scott said now he’d have to pay double for a home what he did 18 years ago.

Joey Parrott, owner of McClure’s Tree Service and J&B Roofing, spent almost four weeks from the day of the storm cutting down trees and removing fallen ones strewn across the Tanglewood grounds. There’s still more that should come down, but the co-op, which is owned by its residents, doesn’t have the money in its emergency fund to finish the work. Parrott, who has already heavily discounted his services so the co-op didn’t completely decimate it, just recently told Tanglewood that he will volunteer another week to the cutting down trees in the park.

Devon Livingston said Tuesday that there are trees on the property that became uprooted during the storm, and then resettled, so there isn’t much holding them down.

“Just the littlest thing is gonna knock half these trees over until we get rid of them.”

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