Meadow Pond Dam
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The Meadow Pond Dam (Meadow Pond Dam or Bergeron Pond Dam) was an earth dam in Alton, New Hampshire, United States that broke in 1996 and caused a tidal wave .
location
Alton is a town of 4,000 people at the southern end of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire . A single two-lane road, Route 140 , serves as the main entrance to the city from the west. Route 140 crosses the Merrymeeting River west of downtown.
The breach of the Meadow Pond dam
Meadow Pond is on the Bergeron family property northwest of the river bridge. The Bergerons bought the property in the 1990s and built a dam at their own expense to upgrade the existing pond. They wanted to use it for boating and other recreational purposes. The reservoir was enlarged to an area of 18 hectares and a storage capacity of 350,000 cubic meters. It was dammed by a trapezoidal earth dam, which was 142 m long and 11 m high.
On the evening of March 13, 1996, the owner's wife noticed that the creek that ran from the dam to the Merrymeeting River had swelled. Bob Bergeron inspected the dam at 6:46 p.m. and saw that a three-inch hole in the dam had opened and flooded the area between his home and Route 140. Less than 10 minutes later - according to other sources at 8:00 p.m. - the dam had failed and released 350,000 cubic meters of water and ice in the direction of the city. The break of the Meadow Pond Dam resulted in one death, two injuries and damage to several homes.
The tidal wave eroded a section of Route 140, causing a tractor to sink into a hole. The driver, Larry Sinclair, was rescued by a neighbor, but his wife Lynda, 48, who was driving behind him in a pickup truck, was killed when the tide washed her car into a ravine.
About 400 meters of the road were destroyed. The flood also caused power outages in Gilmanton, Belmont and Alton. Officials had no explanation as to what caused the dam breach , despite an investigation being conducted. Experts believe several reasons are possible, for example as simple as a leak in a pipe penetration (possibly piping ) or ice pressure .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Night the Dam Broke . Bob Trebilcock. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
- ^ A b Dam break in New Hampshire damages homes, washes out highway . US Water News Online. Archived from the original on November 19, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
