Flooded River Changes Course

You can lead a river through New Hampshire, but you can't make it stick to its path. During days of heavy rain and floods in May, residents of the Epsom, New Hampshire found just how true this is surging waters forced the Suncook River to "jump its tracks" and change course dramatically.

Before the floods, the Suncook River flowed southward around Bear Island in two streams, which joined again to the west of Round Pond. During the flood, the river pushed past the bend in the river and rushed its way more directly southwest, abandoning the riverbeds flowing around Bear Island.

This image, taken by NASA's Terra satellite, uses shortwave and near-infrared light to make water (blue) and bare ground (gray) stand out for vegetation (red).

On either side of the river where the new channel starts, charcoal-colored patches mark where the land was scoured. The stretch of river was a popular angling spot, and the state is currently studying the event to determine the immediate and long term impacts of fish and other river life.

Geologists and engineers are studying the change to determine what, if anything, should be done about the river's new path and whether the state should try and re-divert it to follow its old route along popular riverside restaurants, campgrounds, and other tourist spots.

--Bjorn Carey

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Credit: NASA