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.
If we could just afford Tesla’s this never would have happened
Problem is that this flooding has salt water mixed in. Salt water tends to make electric cars to catch fire!
Salt water tends to rust out gas tanks causing hydrocarbons to go into the groundwater.
Gasoline tends make gasoline cars catch fire.
John — Frequent severe storms make the climate
deniers heads explode and cause them to say
anything that can possibly distract from reality.
Too bad you can’t afford a Tesla.
But to fires– 174,000 cars catch fire in the us
every year. 16 — yes 16– all your fingers,
and all your toes on one foot and one more
are electric vehicles.
https://community.vinfastauto.us/driving/the-fire-rate-of-electric-vehicles-is-61-times-lower-than-that-of-gasoline-vehicles/#:~:text=With%20an%20average%20of%2016,rate%20of%201%20in%201%2C300.
But, right wing news media outlets know
their faithful lemming listeners don’t like
things to be efficient and safe,nor do they want
to acknowledge the inconvenient effects of a changing
climate so they fan the flames (irony intended)
every time an ev catches fire.
And I wonder why they do that. Is it because
the majority of their faithful flock has less than
a high school education and could never afford a
decent efficient car ? Better to just call the people
who work hard and have a good education “elite”
Yes— the baaaaad elite people who want to
control us.
Ah….you do realize the story you posted was about Sweden, right? Over 4,000 electric cars a year catch fire in the US and a recent study done in Germany found electric cars are 4 times more likely to catch fire than gas powered. They are particularly venerable to salt water. During a recent hurricane 22 electric vehicles in Tampa Bay alone.
Sure– I saw that– we all cherry pick.
You after all are citing a study in Germany.
which you of course don’t link to.
But if you actually look at my post
you will see it was from an American
based insurance company , and referenced
a Swedish study.
Most Islander’s can afford a Tesla.
Especially the guys with F-350 dualies with chrome stacks rolling coal.
If you can’t afford a Tesla you can afford to live here.
Um literally have never seen this f350 you are talking about, maybe offisland.anyway I need my truck I work for a living and your Tesla just can’t work . I guess it works for you, driving around doing nothing but existing.
Gerald– I have seen those trucks.
They are the ones idling in the liquor
store parking lot.
I did actually get “coal rolled” by one of
them last summer. I was going up main st
on the hill going out of V.H. An f 350
slowed down and waited for me to get closer
to him. Then he stomped on the diesel and scored
a perfect hit on an old guy on a bicycle. I’m sure his
girlfriend got all excited about that…
So I know people who work need big trucks–
I’m a carpenter, I have a truck, I get it.
Good for you for working for a living. I hope
you do well and live a good life.
But different people have different needs
Not cool to accuse someone directly of
“doing nothing but existing.”
You have no idea what he does. Shame on Sam !
Yeh but it’s ok to refer to folks who disagree as “ lemmings” and the “faithful flock”…. Not so cool imo. These forums are fine to express opposing opinions (and I usually agree w/yours !) but let’s be honest – you’re more than comfortable tossing out the occasional derogatories…..
Mike Kelfer, it’s not occasional.
Generally speaking, and this is not directed at any individual, it is sad when the forced outrage of the liberal left, who express their intolerance every day, puts on a fake morality cloak to shame another. It’s a lesson in narcissitic gaslighting. Let’s just say that I’m shocked. Shocked to find antisemitism, hate speech, lies, and personally offensive attacks going on here. Every day.
Mike — I think there’s a difference between
a generalized derogatory statement like
“liberals are socialists” and a direct derogatory
like “Don Keller is a socialist”. However, i
wouldn’t take that as a “derogatory” because
I think health care and education should be
free, wealthy people should pay taxes, and
poor people should have healthy food
for their children. So I are one— 😉
They can be seen on the evening news flying a soot stained Old Glory and and a big piece of cloth with some guys name on it.
There is no shortage of electric trucks that will do the job for Island contractors. Range is not an issue. How do you like the Tesla truck?
I don’t drive around doing nothing, I drive to do something.
I drive very little for work. I don’t bother with the SSA. I fly.
Gerald– I wonder if you agree that CONTINUALLY
calling certain people anti semitic is less derogatory
than calling a group of people who follow a leader
regardless of facts lemmings.
I personally think being called anti semitic is right
on par with being called a racist. There are certain
people here I think are obvious racists. But to even
imply they are racist gets an immediate delete.
But someone who calls out antisemites in nearly every
story that comes up here seems to be fine.
You’re a Majority Report fan, Love it!!!!!
That’s not all rainwater—
… and people continue to complains about “having to look at the wind turbines off South Beach”. They are so so tiny to look at. Really really not an eyesore but a much needed step in the right direction to mitigate the devastation on Atlantic in Edgartown. Mother Nature is our mother and she has asked us to change our habits. We are not listening just as a toddler doesn’t listen to their mother, so now Mother Nature is reprimanding and punishing us!
Let Stop & Shop build their new store and raise it up as in their proposed plan from years ago.
It will be reflected in your grocery bill.
Climate Change?? The island as a whole needs to consider the changes that are going to be needed now not just in the future. Planning and facing reality, I do not believe the weather patterns we are seeing are going to reverse.
Raising buildings and roads to more appropriate levels above the water is something I do not here discussed or MVC maybe educating the public on the harsh reality of raising water levels.
It is January and I do appreciate the mild temperatures, it is not the weather I remember growing up here.
Denial is only going to cost more money and more inconvenience before it begins to cost lives.
Ok, I am going to plagiarize myself here.
I posted this on islanders talk the other day
in a comment about the recent storms.
“ok– enough is enough ! since the first windmill went up, there have been 2 instances of severe erosion on south beach. It should be obvious to anyone with about 1/2 of a functioning brain ( but not to those with full cognitive capacities) that it is actually the windmills that ARE causing all the wind. Look at the size of those things, then stand in front of a window fan. The fan goes around and creates wind. Big fans create lots of wind. !!!!!! Take them down before they blow the whole island away. Imagine all the wind when all 62 are up and running. And the poor plovers will be blown all the way into Canada. STOP THIS INSANITY AND SAVE THE PLOVERS. !!!!”
So, I thought it was kind of funny, but someone
actually wrote back to tell me the windmills are
not actually fans.
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