Shawsheen floods neighboring homes                3/24/01
By Rebecca Griffin
Eagle-Tribune Writer

ANDOVER — The Shawsheen River climbed across yards and into basements yesterday, forcing the town to evacuate 12 apartments and limit traffic.
   North Main Street was open only to one—way traffic as water flooded the street in front of Shawsheen Plaza. Four row houses across the street were evacuated and residents were moved to area hotels and the houses of local relatives.
   Firefighters on the scene speculated as to whether the houses would be too water damaged to occupy after the water subsides.
Deputy Fire Chief Lincoln 0. Clark described the state of flooding in the town as "very serious" and estimated that there are more than 100 basements flooded.
   The river's flood stage is 7.8 feet. It was at 9.9 feet by early evening yesterday and scheduled to crest at 10 feet by last night, said Mike Jackson, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton. The river will likely subside below flood stage early Sunday, he said.
   A white, brick house with three apartments across the river from the row houses was also evacuated. Water in the house's basement reached half way up the legs of a plastic lawn chair. A football bobbed in the yard outside. A man outside the house filled a car with a computer and clothes.
   "I don't know where I'm going. I don't have time to talk to you," he said, before disappearing back into his house for another load.
   Yesterday's flood had many remembering back to flooding in 1996, which was said to have been worse.
   "It's just another year," said town Water Superintendent Morris B. Gray Jr., watching the river rise up under the bridge in front of Shawsheen Plaza, and pointing out large slabs of ice shooting up from under the bridge.
   At Best Cleaners and Tailors in the plaza, it was business as usual, even as water rushed along the business's outside wall.
Owner Luke H. An said he wasn't worried. "It's going down," he said. "The snow is melting."
   Concerned residents of the Washington Condominium complex next to the Shawsheen Plaza wore winter coats as they watched the water level creep toward their homes throughout the day.
   From the window of her den, resident Clare Roberts saw the water climb across the parking lot, up her front walk and over part of her yard.
   By 3 p.m. she was wondering if she would have to stay with her son overnight. Firefighters knocked on residents' doors warning of the swelling water level and advising them to make alternative plans for the night
   "I hate to go but I don't want to get stuck here either," Mrs. Robert' said.
In a second-floor condominium resident Doris Lindsay called the apartment complex manager, trying to get something done about the rising water.
  "In my view of the fact that the town protected us so completely from any water damage from the last flood in 1996, we all assumed the town would protect us again," she said. "The fire department and the police department give us extremely (good) service. I should think it would be up to the town manager to tell us that we're going to need to get some sand on the property."
   According to Town Manager Reginald S. "Buzz" Stapczynski, the condominium's association was told in a Conservation Commission meeting since 1996 that the town would not bail out the complex next time and that the association should make contingencies for the next flood. The complex is private and is not the town's responsibility, Mr. Stapczynski said.
  "If a roof caved in over there, the town probably wouldn't send a contractor to fix their roof, either," he said.

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