Winter storm brings mix of damage across Cape Cod

DENNISPORT — At Garlands Motel, the beach was intact as of Tuesday as were the stairs leading down to it, after Friday's winter storm that brought rain and winds from the south. But the wrack line at a nearby beach was littered with fencing, heavy timber, a lobster pot and all manner of flotsam and jetsam dangerously close to Old Wharf Road.

The south-facing beaches on the Cape felt the brunt of the storm. Frank Nocera, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norton, said the highest wind speeds were 74 mph at Kalmus Beach in Hyannis and 72 mph at West Dennis Beach. Wind gusts across the Cape reached 50 and 60 mph, he said.

The three-part storm brought high winds, heavy rain and snow at the tail end.

Sandwich and Falmouth had 1 to 2 inches of ocean-effect snow, Nocera said. Martha's Vineyard saw 6 to 7 inches of snow in some locations.

"It's our version of what they see in Buffalo with lake-effect snow," he said.

The Garland's Property Manager Lauren Montgomery checked on the property Friday while the storm was raging. The motel had lost part of the beach in storms a few years in a row, and Montgomery was afraid they might lose it again.

“Not this time,” she said, adding that the waves were “insane.”

At Chase’s Ocean Grove on Old Wharf Road, less than a mile away, the waves breached the short incline from the beach to the cottages and water flooded the area. Ocean Grove is a 275-unit cottage colony, with about 160 cottages on the ocean side of the road. The cottages are compact, close together and a stone’s throw from a 1,000-foot beach.

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On Tuesday, dump trucks dropped loads of sand along South Ocean Grove Circle, between the ocean and the first line of cottages. A John Deere skid steer loader made the sand a barrier for the small cottages in front of Handkerchief Way Beach.

First Property Management was not immediately available Tuesday for comment on storm damage and erosion.

Harwich water levels unheard of in 10 years

In Harwich, town officials said there was more damage due to water inundation than erosion. Public Works Director Lincoln Hooper said tides were flooding places they’d never seen before.

The most significant damage was from inundation during high tides, especially in the upper reaches of the Herring River, Conservation Agent Amy Usowski said. The flooding reached a couple of miles inland and affected low-lying areas around the river.

“We’ve had more flooding inland than we’ve seen, but only around the river area,” she said.

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Some beaches lost about two feet in height, but from what she could tell, the town fared better than many other towns on the Cape, she said.

Harwich Harbormaster John Rendon said he’d never seen the water at the level it was during the storm in his 10 years on the job. The water at Saquatucket Harbor was all the way up over the road to the stairs. The water at Allen Harbor was up to the parking lot.

Four groups of people stranded due to flooding in Chatham

Chatham Fire Chief Justin Tavano said some of the town's south- and southeast-facing beaches had significant washovers. The storm was an unusual wind and weather pattern for late December, Tavano said. High water in eight locations made roads impassable during the first high tide of the storm on Friday morning. The department had to send its high-water vehicle out to evacuate people.

"The way the tide was coming in and the way the wind was pushing it, pushed a lot of water inland," Tavano said. "We had four separate incidents of people stranding in flood water in Little Beach."

Coast Guard Beach access temporarily closed

Access to Coast Guard Beach in Eastham was temporarily closed because of the storm, according to Cape Cod National Seashore Chief Ranger Michael Valora. The storm affected the walking path from the parking lot to the beach. It will be closed until staff can assess the damages. Most likely the pedestrian path will have to be regraded, he said.

“At the height of the storm and high tide, the waves were all the way to the bluffs,” Valora said.

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There was ocean-side erosion on Wellfleet beaches, but no parking lots were affected, according to Suzanne Thomas, director of community services. The Department of Public Works built berms in areas they expected high water and overwashes. Wellfleet Public Works Director Jay Norton wasn't immediately available for comment Wednesday on storm damage.

Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @DeniseCoffeyCCT.  

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: New areas of flooding reached on Cape Cod, sand replenished