The nor’easter that hit Rhode Island on a spring night in 2007 delivered only a glancing blow to most parts of the state.
But in the City By the Sea, it nearly landed a heavy hit.
The wind and driving rain during the April 16 storm pounded the dam system that holds back South and North Easton ponds, which help supply drinking water to most of Aquidneck Island. Wind-whipped waves churned up in the runoff washed out stretches of the earthen embankments along the western and northern edges of the south pond, eating away as much as two-thirds of the barrier in some places.