In 2025, Hampton, New Hampshire, completed a $4.3 million drainage project using a repurposed pump station. 1 year later, residents estimated flooding had fallen 75%, transforming a flood-prone neighborhood

Hampton, New Hampshire, completed an approximately $4.3 million drainage project to help a neighborhood that had dealt with repeated tidal flooding for decades.

Now, Tom Bassett, who lives on Gentian Road, estimated that flooding around his home had fallen by about 75% since the work was completed, as per a report. The project added new drainage pipes, repurposed a pump station and installed an automated water-level monitoring station.

Residents spent more than 20 years seeking improvements

People living near Gentian Road, Meadow Pond Road and nearby streets had spent more than two decades urging officials to repair a drainage system that could not keep up with high tides and heavy storms.


Before the upgrades, Bassett said contaminated tidal floodwater would cover his yard, reach his home and collect in the street dozens of times each year, as per a TCD report. The flooding could also make roads impassable. Executive Councilor Janet Stevens said she had seen the conditions first-hand.

The project was funded through local, state and federal sources.

An aging drainage system struggled as water levels rose

The neighborhood's flooding problems were also linked to older infrastructure. Pauline Perkins, a watershed management staffer with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, said the stormwater system serving the area was built in the 1950s and discharged into Meadow Pond, a tidal estuary connected to Hampton's salt marshes and ultimately the ocean, as per the TCD report.

As water levels rose above the outfall pipe, the system could no longer drain away from the neighborhood and instead pushed water back toward streets and homes. Cracked pipes and a higher water table compounded the problem by allowing additional water into a network meant to carry it away.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reported that average sea level has risen about 8 inches since 1880.

A pump station helped when normal drainage was blocked

The drainage upgrades were designed to work together. The new pipes improved water movement, while the repurposed pump station helped when high tides blocked normal drainage. The automated monitoring station allowed officials to track water conditions near the marsh.

Before the upgrades, Stevens said drainage outlets could remain submerged for extended periods, leaving residents uncertain about when the next storm might bring another round of flooding, as per the TCD report.