FLOODING PROMPTS
EVACUATIONS IN COASTAL COMMUNITIES ON NEW ENGLAND
Water flooded the parking lot and buildings at the
Chatham Fish Pier early Tuesday morning.
January 27, 2015
Scenes from along the Massachusetts coast as a
nor’easter set its cross hairs on New England:
CHATHAM -- John Small stood near the Chatham fish pier
early Tuesday, the parking lot full of the Atlantic Ocean, not vehicles.
“It’s really bad, it’s the worst I’ve seen since the
Halloween storm,” said Small, 52, a fisherman and resident of this Cape Cod
town who drove to the Chatham fish pier to check out the impact of the storm
Tuesday morning.
He arrived an hour before high tide was expected to
arrive, about 4:30 a.m., and was surprised by what he saw: Tidal waters were the
highest he had ever seen. Waves crashed around the oceanfront building, which
was surrounded by water, and waves lapped at a dumpster in the lot.
Small said he was worried about the damage the wind and
water would do to North Beach, which serves as a barrier for the corner of
Chatham where the fish pier is, providing protection to boats and homes.
“It’s been taking a lot of hits in the storms,” he said,
“and this one’s gonna do a lot of damage.”
The tide brought water crashing up into Ryder’s Cove.
The Chatham lighthouse was dark; a Fire Department official said he did not
know why, and a Coast Guard official could not immediately be reached.
* * *
PLYMOUTH -- A couple who went wave-watching here just
before high tide early Tuesday had a close call when a powerful wave flipped
their car into the Eel River, Plymouth Fire Chief Edward Bradley said.
The two people were parked by a sea wall at Plymouth
Long Beach on Route 3A about 3 a.m. when the surging water swallowed their car
and pushed it into the adjacent river, the chief said.
Luckily for the pair, a Plymouth police cruiser showed
up minutes afterward to check the area, responding to a plow driver’s report of
rising water.
The officer “thought he heard screaming,” Bradley said,
and called the Fire Department.
Soon after, the couple emerged from the woods, rattled,
soaked, and suffering from exposure.
They were taken to Beth Israel Deaconess
Hospital-Plymouth.
The car has not been recovered.
Flooding along that section of Route 3A damaged the
Pilgrim Sands Motel and forced 12 guests to move to a shelter, the fire chief
said. Waves driven by 55-mile-per-hour wind gusts crashed over the roof of the
hotel, resulting in considerable water damage inside.
* * *
NEW BEDFORD -- In this city in the southeastern part of
the state, an emergency shelter at the Pilgrim United Church of Christ was over
capacity Monday night and remained full Tuesday morning, according to shelter
manager Pete Wilde.
He said in a phone interview that 47 or 48 people were
at the shelter for breakfast Tuesday, and 44 slept there overnight.
The shelter has 40 beds, Wilde said.
He said shelter patrons varied in age and most were
homeless.
A nurse was on duty to tend to their medical needs,
Wilde said, and all who sought shelter received a full breakfast of pancakes,
eggs, and French toast.
“We brought in tons of food,” Wilde said.
The shelter will probably remain open until Thursday
morning, he said.
New Bedford fire officials said they were not dealing
with major medical or flooding emergencies as of 9:15 a.m., according to a
dispatcher.
“It’s all people stuck in the snow,” he said.
* * *
PLYMOUTH -- At White Horse Beach in the Manomet section
of Plymouth, a fierce combination of driving waves and roaring winds pushed
water between the rows of small wooden beach cottages after the early morning
high tide.
A thick, frigid mixture of ocean water, yellow sand, and
icy slush filled in around the boarded-up homes, spilling down walkways,
filling parking lots, and flooding adjacent Taylor Avenue with a foot of the
foamy storm sludge.
* * *
SANDWICH -- The biggest problem emergency workers
confronted here Tuesday morning: unplowed roads.
“Calls are coming in fast and furious, it’s just a
matter of getting there,” a Sandwich Fire Department dispatcher said. “Plows
are having a hard time keeping up with it. We’re calling plows to come in ahead
of rescues.”
Most calls, however, have been routine, she said. There
have been no serious storm-related car accidents, which means that people are
heeding the travel ban and staying off the streets.
Just before 10 a.m., the dispatcher said, firefighters
were knocking down a house fire that appears to have started because a
generator was put too close to the home. Firefighters were still on scene, she
said, and information about whether there were injuries was not immediately
available.
There was minor flooding along the beach at high tide,
she said, but that had since receded.
A police dispatcher said officers were handling minor
issues, but there had been no major calls.
* * *
DARTMOUTH -- High winds and heavy snow rendered roads
impassable in this coastal town, but only 15 or so homes had lost power as of
8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Town Administrator David Cressman said in a statement.
The power outages occurred when a tree fell into wires,
Cressman said.
He said three people have gone to a town emergency
shelter, and that wind gusts are expected to take a toll throughout the day.
“The biggest problem has been and will be the wind and
its impact on the roads,” Cressman said. “As soon as roads are open, they are
blown shut. Also, the depth in some places is so great that [the Department of
Public Works] has to have loaders open up the roads first.”
Until the wind abates, he said, “it is imperative that
people stay off the roads.”
He said police are taking medical workers to New Bedford
and Westport to assist hospitals.
* * *
MARSHFIELD — Police reported that heavy surf washed out
a sea wall in Marshfield, leaving officials there concerned about dangerous
flooding when the sea rises again during the evening high tide.
Marshfield Police Lieutenant Paul Tabor said a 40- to
50-foot section of the barrier went down, damaging one of the many homes in the
area along Bay Avenue. The Department of Public Works is examining the collapse
to see if they can shore the wall up before high tide.
“It is bad any time the sea wall is breached like that,”
Tabor said.
Barry Chin/Boston Globe Staff