High winds cause power outages for several thousand on Cape Cod

Gregory Bryant and Doug Fraser, Cape Cod Times
·2 min read

Several thousand Cape Codders lost power this morning during a storm that brought heavy rain, high winds and some flooding to the region.

Wind gusts topped out at 67 mph in Wellfleet, as recorded by National Weather Service spotters, followed by 51 in West Dennis, 50 in Chatham and 46 in Mashpee.

About 3% of Eversource's customers on the Cape and Martha's Vineyard, or a total of about 6,200, were without power at around 9 a.m., according to the utility's online outage data. Dennis had the most outages at the time with 858, followed by Harwich at 698, Barnstable at 653 and Yarmouth at 576.

A section of Union Street in Yarmouth Port was closed Monday morning after a large tree fell over the road and into the overhead wires from high winds during a storm that hit the region.
A section of Union Street in Yarmouth Port was closed Monday morning after a large tree fell over the road and into the overhead wires from high winds during a storm that hit the region.

By 11 a.m., the sun emerged in the Mid-Cape area, the winds had diminished significantly and the percentage of customers without power had dropped to about 1%.

A coastal flood advisory was in effect from 9 a.m. through 1 p.m. The weather service forecast some minor flooding in the region, such as on Wings Neck in Bourne.

Portions of scenic Surf Drive in Falmouth went underwater and the road was closed with some road damage reported. There was a report of flooding near The Sand Bar restaurant at West Dennis Beach. WBZ meteorologist Zack Green tweeted an image from a webcam at 10:35 a.m. showing flooded streets at "5 Corners" in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard.

Wind-driven tides flooded low-lying areas along the Cape's south-facing coastline, including portions of Chatham and Harwich. Chatham Fire Department put out booms and absorbent pads to soak up kerosene that spilled when high tidal waters tipped over fuel containers at one of five shanties along Oyster Pond River.

Waves crash along Town Neck Beach in Sandwich around high tide Monday morning.
Waves crash along Town Neck Beach in Sandwich around high tide Monday morning.

In Yarmouth Port winds felled a large tree that toppled across Union Street at Skipper Lane taking down wires and closing the road. The tree fell at around 8 a.m. and crews were still working on repairing the wires. The street remained closed as of late this afternoon

Winds also snapped a utility pole at 1329 Route 28 in Yarmouth also at 8 a.m., but repair crews were able to fix downed wires and reopen the road by 10:41 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Power outages across Cape Cod due to high winds