By Monitor staff

The weekend’s heavy rains caused some minor problems around the state but they didn’t cause a much bigger problem in Northwood because the fire department was ready.

The small creek that runs from a wetland under Route 202 near the center of Northwood was flooding into an Eversource substation, leading the fire department to bring in a pumper truck to pull water from the site and shoot it over the road. Police closed Route 202, a main artery through town, for hours while the work was being done.

“It would be bad if we lost the power there,” said firefighter Ben Arey. “We’re here to protect life, liberty, property and this is part of it.”

The adjoining swamp is partly controlled by a beaver dam and appears to have gotten larger recently, according to local residents.

“Due to a pickup in local beaver activity damming a culvert that directs water away from this substation, pumping like this morning’s has been required at times recently when there has been heavy precipitation,” Eversource spokeman William Hinkle wrote in r esponse to a Monitor query. “We’re coordinating with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation and local officials as necessary on potential additional mitigation.”

The substation is one of hundreds around New Hampshire that reduce the voltage of electricity carried on long-distance power lines so it can be fed to local homes and businesses.

More than 2 inches of rain fell from Saturday evening to  Monday morning, with heavier amounts in the state’s northeast section and western Maine.

Kancamagus Highway through the White Mountains was closed Monday because of washouts near Conway at the eastern end of the road. Police in Lincoln said the road was closed Monday morning east of the Hancock Campground. 

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