ROCKLAND — Doug Gerrish’s nightmare at 23 Samoset Road started at about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday. “My wife heard a bang. She thought it was an accident. Then she heard it again. We looked out and the poplars were gone.”

“I turned on the porch light,” he said, “and there was a big hole out there. The back yard was gone.”

Severe erosion, a familiar visitor to the Rockland waterfront, had paid an unwelcome call to the Samoset Road area overnight. A huge landslide washed away the back yards, foundations and driveways of Gerrish’s house along with that of his next-door neighbor, Dorothy Smalley, 98. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, both houses were leaning precariously toward the hole as neighbors awaited the worst.

“This is truly a disaster,” said City Manager Cathy Sleeper. City officials described the hole as 250 feet long, 150 feet wide and 40 feet deep — with no end in sight.

Several other houses, including those of William Eaton and Sidney Richardson, were threatened enough to force their evacuation. Sleeper feared the road could wash away in heavy rains, which were forecast for Tuesday night.

When the sun came up Tuesday morning, Smalley’s Cadillac was lying upside down in the gully along with pieces of her house, her garage and lawn furniture. Smalley left with the clothes on her back.

Gerrish drove his two cars away. Firefighters went back for their grandchildren’s bicycles. That was all that was saved. “Thirty-four years. Everything is gone,” said Gerrish, who ran Doug’s Gift Shop in Rockland for many years.

All day Tuesday, Gerrish stood by and watched his house and all his belongings teeter on the precipice. There was no way to know when the house would fall, no way to save a life’s possessions, no way to rescue the pictures and the beloved grand piano.

Severe erosion problems around the north end of the harbor are nothing new. The Littlefield Memorial Baptist Church lost a chunk of its back yard to erosion a few years ago. Neighbor David Eaton had been before the city council several times in recent years. He knew it was coming and wanted some help. He never got any.

The city could never find any help. They tried the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They tried the Army Corps of Engineers. They tried the state soil conservation office. They tried the governor’s office.

The city’s insurance company surveyed the situation, hired an engineer, determined the municipality was not at fault, and advised homeowners to check with their insurance carriers. One city insurance professional, who did not wish to be named, said most homeowner’s policies exclude land movement damage and the neighbors could be without coverage.

The Smalley house at 27 Samoset Road was built in 1957 and valued at $169,000. The Gerrish house at 23-25 Samoset Road was built in 1959 and valued at $116,000.

Sleeper said the city had also contacted the Department of Community and Economic Development for possible grants or loans. That avenue was unsuccessful last time, but state officials advised the city Tuesday to reapply for assistance. Most traditional sources of assistance were unavailable since the problem occurred on private property, Sleeper said.

Ironically, the city had scheduled a meeting for May 1 with the state geologist to investigate possible remedies.

A study of the Samoset Road problem, conducted and completed in June 1995 after neighbors complained in May, indicated part of the problem came when frost left the bed of marine clay, leaving it highly unstable. The city engineer said it was possible to delay or lessen the likelihood of the problem. But it is impossible to prevent it, Sleeper said.

Neighbors thought recent developments at the Route 1 shopping center or the Samoset Resort could have changed the drainage of water. But the city study indicated that neither development had any bearing on the problem. A new city drainage pipe was also eliminated as a possible factor.

“The entire area has to be studied as part of long-range planning needs. This has happened very quickly. This truly is a disaster. It is frustrating not being able to help,” Sleeper said.

The city manager said she did not feel qualified to answer the question of whether the area of marine clay so close to the harbor was suitable for home construction.

Mayor Thomas Molloy and the city council shared the manager’s frustration. “We have tried to find a mechanism to help. But we were frustrated at every level — county, state and federal. We went to the governor. We are just as frustrated as the poor homeowners. But there is a question about spending tax dollars. I don’t know what we could do. We searched for all kinds of ways, and we didn’t have the ability to do anything,” Molloy said.

Molloy came to the scene about 3:30 Tuesday morning, just in time to watch Smalley’s Cadillac disappear into the dark. “I watched the porch go, and it scared the hell out of me. I left about 4 a.m. We didn’t know what to do. I am afraid with the heavy rain coming the whole road could go. That poor woman. Everything she had is gone.”

Everyone on the shore side of the Samoset Road expected trouble from erosion. But no one expected anything this fast, this drastic.

Gerrish stood in the heavy rain on Tuesday afternoon. Everything he owned was 30 feet away, about to slide over a cliff into a sea of mud. But fire and police officials wouldn’t let him go back in the house for anything. The land under half the building had washed away and the house could have fallen at any minute. He had to stand there and watch, helpless.

There was nothing he could do.

There was nothing anyone could do.