'Fighting a losing battle': East Bridgewater dam breaches, flooding homes and yards

EAST BRIDGEWATER – From about 4 to 6 a.m. Friday, Peter Blackman, of East Bridgewater, watched the water from Robbins Pond creep up his backyard toward his home.

"I saw the water coming up into the yard fast," he said. "The water never comes up that quick."

Meanwhile, straight across the pond, Lisa Jazon noticed water starting to flood her backyard around 6 a.m. Even with the retaining wall that keeps rainwater from pooling into her property, the flood was building.

"No matter how much rain we get it doesn't (normally) come into the yard," Jazon said.

She left her home to drop her kid off at school at 6:30 a.m. When she returned 20 minutes later, the water was several feet higher, she said Friday afternoon.

Around 9 a.m., as Jazon tried to stop the flow with sandbags, the water reached the oil tank and electrical wires lining the side of her house. Jazon called the East Bridgewater Fire Department, who soon arrived at the scene.

"I was fighting a losing battle," she said.

East Bridgewater Fire Chief Timothy Harhen, who is the town's director of emergency management, said in a written statement Friday afternoon that East Bridgewater Fire and Police responded to the area of Bixby Drive about 9 a.m. Friday, after an approximately 20-foot section of an earthen dam gave out. The breach is believed to have occurred around 6 a.m.

The dam is privately owned and the portion of the dam where the breach occurred is located in East Bridgewater. The dam owner is working to make repairs, the written statement said.

Water from the Plymouth Street pond began to drain into Robbins Pond in East Bridgewater as a result of the breach, the written statement said.

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By 1 p.m. Friday, the water stopped rising, the breech was repaired and water was "receding slowly," Harhen said.

Harhen said it could take between 12 and 72 hours for the pond to drain back to normal levels.

Officials closed Pond Street, but Harhen said there was no damage to the road. The street will remain closed "until water recedes and the bridge can be inspected to ensure it is not compromised," Harhen said in the written statement.

"The breech is taken care of," he said.

Damage to some pond-side homes

By 1 p.m. on Bixby Drive, Alex Smudin's backyard had shrunk by at least 20 feet from rising water levels. Water was slowly creeping toward his garage.

In total, 10 to 12 properties were damaged due to the flood, according to Harhen. No injuries were reported.

Although the water didn't enter her house, Jazon's backyard kitchen equipment is now soaked and damaged from the flood, she said. She said that her insurance company told her she's not insured for floods.

"A lot of us are not covered because this is not a flood zone," Jazon said.

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According to several residents, a similar flood occurred roughly 15 years ago due to large amounts of snowfall that melted and filled the pond. They haven't experienced flooding since.

"I was glad the fire department listened and came," Jazon said. "We would've been screwed."

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: East Bridgewater flood: Higgins Pond overflows onto Bixby Drive