DUXBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - With ocean waves still battering the coast and a second nor’easter ready to strike, crews in many coastal communities, including Duxbury, are feverishly working to repair broken seawalls.
A 200-foot section of the seawall collapsed over the weekend near Cable Hill Road, allowing water to rush in around homes on the shoreline. Construction crews brought in massive boulders Tuesday to help reinforce the wall, which was built in 1954, ahead of the storm that is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain on Wednesday.
“We have massive, massive destruction to our infrastructure here. This is a huge problem for the town,” said Duxbury Town Manager René Read at a press conference on Tuesday.
It has been a race to repair the wall because each high tide since the collapse has flooded the area.
“Because of the ramped up surf, the tide really never goes out for too long, so we have a very short window of opportunity to get on the beach,” said Peter Butkins, of the Duxbury Department of Public Works (DPW).
Homeowners have banded together to hire private contractors but it is a band-aid approach and the concern is whether the work will hold up. There are seawall breaks in Marshfield along Ocean Avenue. A neighborhood in Green Harbor is still completely underwater.
Up the coast in Scituate, power is still out in some areas as the town gears up to combat another day of stormy weather. Scituate is also dealing with degraded seawalls.
Minor to moderate flooding is expected along the coast. A flood watch is in effect starting Wednesday and lasting into Thursday.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)