Front Row

Wind and water showed up like a couple on the red carpet at an awards show. Lots of pictures were taken and when it was all over not much had really happened.

The storm warning came out Thursday and again early Friday morning. The National Weather Service keeps our neighborhood group in the loop. High winds, potential for coastal flooding were on tap. I had gas should the power go out and I had had the generator tuned up three weeks ago with the help of the great Johnny C. If wind knocked out the juice, we had a fallback.

The fences on the parking lot side of things were the first to go. By Friday morning they were down. The fencing in front of the tower let go during the Saturday tide and it was an amazing, resounding clang, as pieces banged off the scaffolding. I was out taking pictures and video of the tide when that brilliant ping was heard. I left them alone until late Saturday when the tide had passed and I was heading around to take a measure of things. They mostly held but for one piece in front of the tower that slipped again overnight Saturday.

A lower piece of the wrap that is around the tower was torn off by the water. There are rips all around the wrap from the wind trying to take it off and send a giant white blanket somewhere else. The scaffolding itself is very solid though and didn’t shift at all.

After resetting the fence (sorta) I got some of the rock pushed away around the flagpole bench and off of the sidewalk there. The direction of this storm put a good deal of debris up on the harbor side walkway and if the temperature comes up some today I will try to get that cleaned up. It was icy out there first thing this morning and that stone does not move without some sun on it first.

I was out there early to try to take down the flag. A clip which holds on the collar which surrounds the pole had broken and the flag got wrapped around the wheel up top that allows it to be raised and lowered. It is a strange task that involves a step ladder, a rake, sometimes a fish hook and duct tape. Today I managed with only the first two items and the flag is now down and the line will be repaired with new clips and maybe a new line all together.

On Sunday I cleaned up the yard on the harbor side. There was trash to go to the dump and lots of small pieces of lumber that had gotten wet with the pushover from the tide. Everything is off the ground now but for a very full barrel that I think I have out of harms way. The restoration project seems to be on hold for better weather and lots of these things would have found their way into the harbor without being shifted. The beach is changed. It would not be possible to put the boardwalk back in place without some work. A long stretch approaching the flag pole island is too thin to take the whole width of the planks.

The Town sent a member of the DPW with front end loader and the road got cleaned up. The parking lot was full for some time with water that had no where to go. I saw a police vehicle drive through with water to the lower part of the door. Several neighbors who had parked their cars in the lot to avoid the tide had water rising on their vehicles as well.

The outflow pipe opened up with the tide going down and all of this water slid away.

So two days later there is some sweeping to do and not much more. This was a minor flooding event with real wind. Friday night into Saturday the wind did cause the bed to shake upstairs.

Here are several short video clips taken at high tide Saturday.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

One last picture to wrap this up.