Municipal workers who tried to remove a beaver dam in a central Newfoundland town wound up causing a flood that swamped part of a central Newfoundland town on Tuesday.

The beaver dam had raised the water level of Cobb's Pond, which sits in the middle of a Gander subdivision, to flood levels.

But the effort to remove it on Tuesday did not go according to plan.

"It was backed up pretty bad in Cobb's Pond. The boardwalk was starting to get flooded," said Gary Horwood, the director of municipal works and services with the town of Gander.

"So we sent an excavator up this morning, after we confirmed with wildlife [officials]. We started to let go of the beaver dam slowly, and it collapsed on us."

The water from the pond rushed out and flooded backyards, streets and a couple of basements.

"This flooded as far as that window sill right there," said Herb Burton, who had just moved into his new house last month.

"Inside the house, there's about three inches [7.62 centimetres] of water on the floor there. The gyproc is all soused and everything, and a bit of furniture is wet.... It's a bit of a mess down there."

Horwood said the town managed to prevent further flooding by building a makeshift dam on the pond.

Damages to curbs and culverts were not yet determined.

Horwood said the town's insurance company will be covering the cost of repairing the damaged property.