As of 1 pm Friday, Elsa had dumped rain on the Vineyard and generated windy conditions, but that hadn’t translated into much storm damage. There were some ferry cancellations, and diversions from Oak Bluffs to Vineyard Haven, by the Steamship Authority. Both the Island Queen and HyLine canceled trips to and from the Vineyard.
Oak Bluffs Police Sgt. Daniel Cassidy told The Times things had been quiet in town. West Tisbury Fire Chief Greg Pachico said during the storm it hadn’t created any work for his department, “knock on wood.” Chief Pachico tipped his hat to Eversource, which he said has done a good job in recent years of trimming around power lines. Chilmark Fire Chief Jeremy Bradshaw said he’d only had to deal with a Comcast line down on South Road. Chilmark Beach Superintendent Martina Mastromonaco said her beaches remained open.
“Nothing’s closed but nobody’s here,” she said during the storm from the shack at Lucy Vincent Beach. “We did pull the lifeguards from Menemsha Beach because of the weather.”
Mastromonaco said there wasn’t much surfing interest, despite the storm. “The surf isn’t that big,” she said, and added the wind was from an unfavorable direction.
Tisbury Fire Chief Greg commended Eversource for pre-positioning resources on the Vineyard. He said when Eversource does that, it makes a difference.
As of nearly 2 pm Friday, fewer than 30 customers were without electricity on the Island, according to the Eversource outage map.
At Big Bridge on the Edgartown–Oak Bluffs town line, striper fishermen flanked either side of the inlet to Sengekontacket as terns plunged for bait fish. Schooling stripers could be seen around the bridge pilings.
Edgartown Police Department posted on its Facebook page alerting beachgoers that South Beach was closed due to the storm. No one was allowed on the beach or in the water.
At the Oak Bluffs seawall, waves sent spray onto Seaview Avenue, but the sand and pebbles often splashed onto the roadway weren’t evident.
