Coastal communities faced a powerful bomb cyclone a punishing mix of strong winds, heavy snow, power outages and some flooding.
From Cape Ann to Cape Cod, waves crashed over seawalls and swelled harbors, creating some street flooding. On Cape Cod, the high winds blew a biting mix of ice, sand and wet snow.
“‘Do not go out’ I guess is my message to everybody. Visibility is awful and the driving is bad. It’s getting to the point where we are going to bring our crews in for a little bit because it’s hard to see where they’re plowing. Don’t come out. Stay in your house,” said Scituate Town Administrator Jim Boudreau. “Do not put yourself in harm’s way by trying to see what is going on with the snow.”
“Actually, it hasn’t been too bad with the wind. As long as you have visibility around your truck and you can see where you are, I feel I’m fine,” said Sandwich plow driver Dan Smith, estimating there was probably 100 to 150 yards of visibility.
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Several roads, including Quincy Shore Drive and several roads in Sandwich, were closed because of flooding.
“Anytime there is a major storm, I come out. We have been talking about the storm for weeks. I had to get out here and experience it for myself,” said one man who was walking along Quincy Shore Drive. “The drifts are insane. I’ve been walking along the beach because the drifts were too much for me.”
Officials on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket also reported street flooding.
In Scituate, massive waves were crashing over the seawall on Rebecca Road an hour before high tide, and some street flooding was reported. The waves tossed rocks into the roadway.
“Right around high tide, we were taking spray over the top of the house. It is starting to freeze up a little bit right now, but the wind is not as bad as expected so far. I think we recorded gusts at right around 50, but they are averaging 35, 40. We made it through the tide. We are just waiting for the next one,” said Scituate resident Dan Sullivan.
Plymouth Fire Chief Ed Bradley said conditions in that town deteriorated quickly Saturday morning, especially along the water, and winds had picked up.
“The wind picked up really quickly right after 6:00. Have had multiple transformer fires and wires down and power outages now right along the coastline in downtown Plymouth,” Bradley said.
On the North Shore, Rockport Harbor saw white caps and the town blocked off part of the waterfront that’s likely to flood.
A Rockport police officer told StormTeam 5’s AJ Burnett he was not aware of any reports of widespread power outages or flooding in town.
Manchester-by-the-Sea Police Chief Todd Fitzgerald said road crews have been out since about 3 a.m.
“So far, they have kept up with the heavy snow, but I would say within the last 90 or so minutes, we’ve seen the winds definitely increase and we’ve probably had some whiteout conditions,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said they haven’t had many emergency calls, but stressed they were not out of the woods yet.
“I think we are concerned about the power outages, but also, there is a potential for coastal flooding later on tonight,” he said.
Duxbury Fire Chief Rob Reardon thanked people for staying home and off the roads, which allows emergency responders to do their jobs.
“It is very important. It allows us to get around without problems. It is too dangerous out there right now. We are responding to fire alarms, carbon monoxide alarms plus medicals. We have had a couple of accidents. For the most part, people are staying off the roads, which is great,” he said.
By early afternoon, more than 100,000 customers were without power across Massachusetts, with most of the outages focused along the South Coast and Cape Cod.
Scituate residents are asked to stay away from downed power lines and call the Fire Department at 911. Power issues should be reported to National Grid at 800-465-1212 or Eversource in Humarock at 800-286-2000.
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