Coastal Flood — Eastern Plymouth, Massachusetts

2015-01-27 · Eastern Plymouth, Massachusetts

Event narrative

Moderate to major coastal flooding occurred along the east coast of Plymouth County, particularly on north and northeastern facing beaches, where north-northeasterly winds pushed water farther up on shore at high tide. The following cities and towns were inundated with ocean water.

Duxbury: Gurnet Road was flooded.

Hingham: Twelve to eighteen inches of ocean water flooded Rockland and Kilby Streets.

Hull: Atlantic, Manomet, and Nantasket Avenues were flooded and closed. Four to five feet of ocean water inundated Moreland Avenue. Fourteen residents were evacuated from an apartment building on Park Avenue because the first floor of the building was flooded with ocean water. Gunrock Beach was inaccessible because of ocean water flooding and overwash debris.

Marshfield: Dyke Road was flooded to the Esplanade. Ocean Street and Foster Road were impassable. The seawall along Bay Avenue was damaged along 110 feet of its length. This breach resulted in structural damage to an unoccupied house on Bay Avenue. Ocean Street at Route 139 was impassable in large part due to an 89 foot breach in the seawall. An additional 80 foot length of the Green Harbor Seawall was lost or damaged during the storm. At least four houses will be condemned and at least a dozen more sustained substantial damage due to the seawall breach. A man was injured when waves struck the back of his house, shattering a sliding glass door. Major damage was sustained to the houses just south of Brant Rock.

Norwell: A house near the intersection of Chittenden Lane and River Street was flooded with three feet of water in the basement.

Plymouth: Warren Avenue was flooded with three to four feet of water near Burt's Restaurant. Significant overwash debris and flooding of the barrier beach resulted in damage to Burt's Restaurant and a partial collapse of Warren Avenue (Route 3A). Long Beach was flooded. Taylor Avenue was impassable near White Horse Beach. Fifteen to twenty feet of sand dunes were eroded at the south end of White Horse Beach.

Scituate: River, Front, and Foster Streets, Glades, Baileys, and Gannett Roads and Marshfield Avenue were flooded. A car was found floating on Edward Foster Road. A basement on Marion Street was flooded with close to 7 feet of water. Turner Road, Edward Foster Road, Cole Parkway, Scituate Avenue, Oceanside Avenue, and the Mann Hill Extension were impassable due to ocean water flooding and overwash debris. Water flowed around and under buildings near all of these locations. Evacuations took place on Turner Road. Dunes and cobble berm were eroded by ocean water and overwash debris. The east end of Gannett Road was undermined and sinking in spots due to ocean water flooding and overwash debris. Glades Road was partially washed out. The seawall was breached along Oceanside Drive resulting in structural damage to a house. There was extensive overwash flooding in the avenues section of Scituate. The northern half of Humarock Beach (north of Sea Street) was inaccessible.

Wider weather episode

An historic winter storm brought heavy snow to southern New England with blizzard conditions to much of Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts, beginning during the day on Monday, January 26 and lasting into the early morning hours of Tuesday, January 27. The highest snowfall totals, averaging two to three feet, extended from extreme northeast Connecticut and northwest Rhode Island into much of central and northeast Massachusetts, including greater Boston. Some of the highest totals reported include Hudson, MA (36 inches), Acton, MA (34 inches), Thompson, CT (33.5 inches), and Methuen, MA (31.5 inches). Much of southeast Massachusetts and the rest of Rhode Island received one to two feet of snow. Totals dropped off dramatically west of the Connecticut River Valley where totals of 4 to 8 inches were observed.

The storm was well-forecast, with Blizzard Watches and Winter Storm Watches issued 2 days before the snow began. Low pressure tracked northeast from the Carolinas and strengthened rapidly as it slowly passed southeast of Nantucket on Monday evening, January 26. All of the precipitation fell as snow with this storm. At its peak, snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour were common. In Massachusetts, blizzard conditions were officially reported in Marshfield (14 hours), Hyannis (13 hours), Nantucket (11 hours), Boston (9 hours), Chatham (9 hours), Worcester (7 hours), and Beverly (3 hours). In Rhode Island, blizzard conditions were officially reported in Westerly (5 hours), Newport (4 hours), and at T.F. Green State Airport in Warwick (3 hours). Several other locations fell just short of the required criteria (3 consecutive hours of blizzard conditions) including Fitchburg, New Bedford, Falmouth, and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and Smithfield in Rhode Island.

Daily snowfall records were set for January 27 in Boston (22.1 inches, previous record 8.8 inches in 2011), Worcester (31.9 inches, previous record 11.0 in 2011), and Providence (16.0 inches, previous record 6.7 inches in 2011). In Worcester, the snowfall total of 34.5 inches was the greatest on record (dating back to 1892), breaking the previous record of 33.0 inches on March 31 to April 1, 1997. In Providence, the total of 19.1 inches was the fourth highest on record (dating back to 1904), while in Boston the total of 24.6 inches was the sixth highest on record (dating back to 1872).

The Blizzard of January 2015 produced very strong winds late Monday into Tuesday near the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coasts where gusts of 50 to 65 mph were common. Gusts reached hurricane force at a few locations in Massachusetts including Nantucket (78 mph), Chatham (75 mph), Humarock (74 mph), and Aquinnah (74 mph).

Significant coastal flooding occurred along the Massachusetts east coast, mainly south of Boston. Due to a north-northeast wind around the time of the early morning high tide, Boston's north shore was spared to some degree with mostly minor impacts. North and east facing coastlines from Hull to Chatham as well as Nantucket experienced moderate to major coastal flooding with some areas experiencing inundation in excess of 3 feet and pockets of structural damage, especially where sea walls and other protective devices were compromised. Severe erosion was reported along portions of the coastline south of Boston. The Sandwich area was especially hard hit with erosion as a consequence of strong onshore winds by the time of the early morning high tide. Very preliminary estimates indicate that the coastal impact along the eastern Massachusetts coast south of Boston was generally comparable to but in a few locations a little greater than the February 2013 Blizzard. Residents had to be evacuated from neighborhoods in Hull and Scituate.

The governor of Massachusetts declared a travel ban that began on January 27th at midnight and was lifted county-by-county as conditions allowed. Power outages were few (limited mainly to Cape Cod and the Islands) but had a high impact as all power was out on the island of Nantucket. Logan International Airport was closed through 6 am January 28th. A total of 116 cities and towns declared local states of emergency during this storm, activating their Emergency Operations Centers. Most Amtrak, ferry, train, and bus service was suspended for January 27th, prior to the storm. Over 40 shelters opened, serving a total of 450 individuals.

Two fatalities were reported as a result of this storm: a 97 year old man who died while trying to clear a carbon dioxide vent at his home in Yarmouth and a 53 year old man in New Bedford who died while snow blowing his neighbors driveway.

President Obama issued a federal disaster declaration for the eastern parts of Massachusetts for this storm, allowing federal assistance for emergency work and repairs to facilities damaged by the storm.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 557910. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.