Storm surge reached the doorsteps of local businesses Wednesday morning.
By
Sam Houghton and Daniel Greenman
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21
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A substantial amount of rain and storm surge overnight Tuesday led to coastal flooding in downtown Vineyard Haven, and strong winds on the south side of the Island led to continued beach damage.
On Wednesday morning, some local businesses were forced to close with flooding reaching their doors; Stop & Shop built a barricade of sandbags to keep lapping waters back on Water Street.
Several vehicles stalled on Beach Road, some requiring tow trucks to get out of the flooded street.
On Wednesday morning, Tisbury resident Douglas Burke was recording the flooding at Five Corners on his phone. Burke said that he has never seen storm aftereffects like this in Vineyard Haven. “I’ve been here 20-something-odd years, and I think this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“It’s been an inconvenience. You can work around it, and go around the roads. And it’s part of the Vineyard charm,” Burke said.
In Edgartown, just as town officials have begun the process of rebuilding the areas hit hardest during last month’s storm, Atlantic Drive and South Beach dunes were once again devastated by Tuesday’s high winds and flooding, exacerbating the vulnerability of the Island’s south shore.
The National Weather Service reports that 2.3 inches of rain fell at the Vineyard Airport weather station overnight Tuesday, overpowering storm drains. The highest wind gust reached 50 miles per hour.
Five Corners and Beach Road
Reached Wednesday morning, Tisbury town administrator Jay Grande and DPW director Kirk Metell said that the flooding, while maybe worse than previous storms, was a decade-old problem.
Both said that Five Corners is below sea level, which causes issues when storm surge and rain swamp the area. And the outflow pipes have not been working properly to get water out of the area. Much of Beach Road and Five Corners were flooded until well into the afternoon Wednesday.
Grande says that the state should consider elevating Five Corners, even if only a few inches, so that water can drain better.
But both the town officials said that the state should also add mechanical pumps to the area, so that water can be pumped out of the road when there is a more substantial storm, like Tuesday night’s.
Grande pointed to two state studies that are considering improvements in the area. One is considering safety, and the other is a drainage study. While he is grateful that the state Department of Transportation is working on it, Grande is hopeful they can fast-track them, with that section of town seeing routine flooding.
“They need to start expediting a design-and-build process, because properties are at risk, and they get damaged during these events,” he said. “The drainage system is the state’s, and although we are grateful they are working on it, they need to expedite it.”
Mid-morning on Wednesday, a MassDOT worker who asked not to be identified was closing part of Beach Road.
“There are four outflow pipes at the end of this road on Water Street Extension that the town owns, and when they’re kept clean, the water flows pretty good,” the worker said, explaining one reason the flooding was bad that day. “But they’re not clean, obviously.”
While some offices and stores were closed — including The MV Times and Mobil station, because of the flooding — some businesses were open. “Shockingly, we do have some customers in here right now — that was somewhat unexpected,” said Chicken Alley thrift shop operations director Jessica Tartell.
Chicken Alley is also preparing for a comparable storm expected this weekend. “We will sandbag the areas that … are known to [have] flooding,” Tartell said. “We’re just trying to secure anything as best we can, with the anticipation of much higher winds … We want to make sure nobody gets hurt, and that our neighborhood stays as safe as possible.”
Jen Ingraham, owner of the Island Color Center, was not alarmed on Wednesday morning: “We’re up high — luckily.”
When asked how this storm compared with others she had seen, Ingraham had a particular date in mind. “It came up pretty high, but the last time it was this high was Jan. 17, 2022. I have a video of it, and I just showed someone earlier.”
Ingraham is not planning any preparations for this weekend’s storm: “No, I don’t really prepare for storms. It’s New England.”
Edgartown
In Edgartown, conservation staff were trying to shore up damage from last month’s storm, which resulted in significant beach erosion and a collapsed roadway on Atlantic Drive.
After the holiday season, the town began taking donations of used Christmas trees in order to help build up south shore dunes that had been destroyed. But with that work not yet completed, Tuesday’s storm brought with it tides that made their way over the South Beach dunes, flooding Atlantic Drive once again. The road will likely be closed for the next several days.
With help from the state, Edgartown Parks Department is working on a plan to mitigate the damage already done, and come up with strategies to prevent further erosion and devastation in the future.
Also, the town announced Wednesday that the Chappy Ferry would be out of service until midday.
SSA
The Steamship Authority experienced multiple cancellations on Wednesday morning due to the weather, including all the ferries up until the 9:50 am departure from Vineyard Haven. One trip, the 11:05 am departure from Woods Hole, is listed as being delayed by 30 minutes because of a crew shortage.
SSA spokesperson Sean Driscoll told The Times there were 14 cancellations on both of its routes between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Additionally, Driscoll said, “the current forecast calls for winds Friday into Saturday,” and the SSA is keeping an eye on the upcoming weekend’s weather.
Outages
While it is uncertain how many Islanders experienced power disruptions overnight, Eversource reported that about 40 customers in Tisbury — near where Ashton’s Way meets Herring Creek Road — were without power on Wednesday morning because of a tree limb. The power has since been restored.
An Eversource representative was not immediately available to comment on the extent of the storm’s impact on power.
“Our crews have been working to make repairs since the storm entered Massachusetts, bringing down trees and limbs, causing damage to the electric system,” Priscilla Ress, Eversource spokesperson, told the Times. “As we head into this weekend, we’re making the similar preparations as we did for this past storm, including additional crews to serve our customers on Martha’s Vineyard.”
Abigail Rosen and Eunki Seonwoo contributed to this report.
