Coastal Flood — Eastern Plymouth, Massachusetts

2013-02-09 · Eastern Plymouth, Massachusetts

Event narrative

In Plymouth, Warren Avenue was flooded near the entrance to the beach. A road near the north end of White Horse Beach was washed over with two feet of sand. A house on Taylor Avenue was completely destroyed with wreckage strewn for half a mile. Foundations and stairs of six to eight buildings were damaged. Significant beach erosion occurred with damage to dunes, sand fencing, and stairs. The Pilgrim Sands Motel was flooded with two feet of water in their basement. The Breakwater parking lot was undermined and eroded. In Scituate, numerous streets were flooded and impassable, with up to four feet of water. Moderate to major coastal flooding occurred with depths of water reaching up to 16.6 feet at one point. Water had flowed up to an apartment building on Cole Parkway. The Scituate light house was damaged. Water was flowing around and under houses near Edward Foster Road, Town Way Extension, and Oceanside Road. Significant beach erosion occurred, damaging dunes, sand fencing, and stairs. A house on Scituate Avenue was flooded. The foundation of two buildings were damaged, one at the intersection of Oceanside Road and Tuner Road and the other on Surfside Avenue. A large hole in Glades Road exposed buried utility lines. Ocean debris was found on Surfside Road. In Marshfield, numerous streets were flooded and impassable. Cars were stuck in flood waters on Plymouth Avenue. Water flowed around and under buildings throughout Marshfield. Significant beach erosion occurred, damaging stairs. Brook Street was washed out. In Duxbury, significant beach erosion occurred, damaging stairs and dunes. Damage was sustained to the stairs of a building on Ocean Road North. Water flowed around and under buildings in the High Pines area. Water flowed through one house on Gurnet Road. In addition, stairs were damaged on about 15 buildings on Gurnet Road.

Wider weather episode

An historic winter storm deposited tremendous amounts of snow over all of southern New England, mainly from the mid-afternoon on Friday, February 8 and lasting into the daylight hours of Saturday, February 9. What made this an amazing storm was the widespread coverage of heavy snowfall. Most locations received 2 to 2.5 feet of snow! A stationary band of even heavier snowfall persisted from southwest NH through central MA and on to the southwest across central and western CT. In those areas, reports averaged closer to 2.5 to 3 feet! Along the southeast MA coast, average amounts ranged from 1 to 2 feet. Only on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were snowfall totals less than 1 foot (6 to 12 inches). Isolated thunderstorms were common across the entire region during the height of the storm.

A low pressure system advancing from the Great Lakes region combined forces with a very moist low pressure system moving northeast from the Gulf Coast states. Explosive deepening took place Friday evening, February 8, as a low center moved from the North Carolina coast to south of Nantucket. Strong high pressure to the north of New England helped ensure that cold air remained in place over the area. Snowfall gained intensity during the afternoon, but during the night, 2 to 3 inch per hour amounts were common throughout the region. The band of heaviest snowfall, with 3 to 5 inches per hour for several hours, extended from southwest NH to central and western CT. The precipitation started as mainly snow, although a brief period of rain at the onset was common on the Islands. Snow ended in the morning in western and central MA, southwest NH, most of CT and RI, and in the early afternoon across eastern MA. It lingered during the whole afternoon over Cape Cod and Nantucket, aided by some ocean-effect bands of snowfall.

The Blizzard of 2013 also produced a prolonged period of very strong winds Friday night along the MA and RI coasts. Gusts exceeded hurricane force (74 mph) at a few locations. Gale force gusts (to 50 mph) continued on the MA coast through Saturday afternoon. The strong winds, combined with a wet snow, led to extensive power outages from downed trees and wires in southeast coastal MA and in southern RI. Elsewhere, farther inland, the snow became drier and did not cling to trees like it did along the south and southeast coast of New England. Some wind gusts included: 76 mph at Logan Int'l. Airport (Boston, MA), 75 mph at Bedford, MA, 77 mph at Hyannis, MA and 68 mph in Jamestown, RI. Damaging gusts to 60 mph were recorded as far west as Worcester County, MA. Wind gusts of 35 to 50 mph were common elsewhere in southern New England.

In addition, moderate to major coastal flooding occurred, most notably during the time of the high tide Saturday morning along the Massachusetts east coast. At the storm's height near the early morning low tide, the storm surge reached 3 to 4 feet along much of the MA east coast from Boston south. At the time of the mid-morning high tide, the winds had shifted from northeast to north and the surge had dropped to 1.5 to 2.5 feet for most MA east coast locations. However, this was an astronomically high tide given the nearness to the time of the new moon, and waves to 30 feet had built just 15 miles off the coast. Consequently, many coastal roadways were impassable from Salisbury and Gloucester to Marshfield and Scituate on the south shore and on parts of Cape Cod. Water several feet deep was seen flowing into some vulnerable homes in Scituate. Although there was some structural damage, it did not come close to what was experienced during the Blizzard of 1978. Minor tidal flooding occurred along the south coasts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island during times of high tide Friday night and Saturday morning.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 433419. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.