Rain and snowmelt combined to push the Saco River and Lovewell Pond in Fryeburg over their banks Monday night, damaging about 25 seasonal homes along the shore of the pond, police said.

Members of Fryeburg’s Swift Water Rescue Team used a town-owned airboat to assess the flooding, Police Chief Joshua Potvin said in a statement Tuesday. Photographs posted on the department’s Facebook page showed several partially submerged homes, mostly in the area of Duck Cove Road and Lovewell Pond Road.

Members of the Fryeburg Swift Water Rescue Team retrieve floating propane tanks that broke off homes when the Saco River and Lovewell Pond flooded Tuesday. Photo courtesy of the Fryeburg Swift Water Rescue Team

No one was stranded by the flood and no injuries were reported.

Most of the homes were seasonal, Potvin said.

“The Saco River and Lovewell Pond water levels came up substantially overnight due to the rainfall and ice/snow melting in the nearby mountains,” Potvin said. “We wanted to assess the situation by boat to ensure that no residents were stranded or needed our assistance due to the flooding.”

Potvin said the water rescue team on Tuesday discovered that about 25 homes on the pond sustained extensive water damage from the flooding. The pond is connected to the river. Gas and propane tanks broke free from some residences, and Central Maine Power Co. cut electricity to the homes.

A home on Lovewell Pond in Fryeburg is surrounded by floodwaters on Tuesday, the result of rain and melting snowpack in the White Mountains. Photo courtesy of the Fryeburg Swift Water Rescue Team

Potvin said the water rescue crew recovered the tanks and other hazardous debris. The fire department secured the tanks, some of which had begun to leak, Potvin said.

Potvin said he is not sure if the town will seek state aid to cover property losses. That decision will be left up to the town’s emergency management director, he said.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com