Scituate residents near damaged seawall brace for storm
SCITUATE - Scituate residents prepared for a messy storm that's expected to bring 30 to 40 mile per hour winds to the coast and cause coastal flooding on Tuesday.
The town sent out an alert telling residents to gas up their generators and make other storm preparations. Sandbags were also made available to residents.
"It's old hat for us. We prepare, we board up, we do what we have to do," said Peter Martin, a longtime resident of Scituate's Cedar Point.
Flooding is nothing new to the people who live in Cedar Point. But some are particularly concerned about the high tide which is in one of the highest cycles for 2024. Others are concerned about a damaged portion of the Scituate seawall, spanning roughly 570 feet.
"We know from looking at the wall that it's failed in multiple places along the wall. The real question is which part of it will be washed right out to the sea," said George Simmons, a member of Friends of Scituate Harbor.
Simmons and others are strongly advocating for the quick repair of the wall. On Monday, the town began a two-to-three-week survey of the wall by a coastal consultant to begin the process of permitting and repairs.
In October, an effort to require the town to set aside $7 million to pay for the wall's repair narrowly failed.
According to Scituate Town Administrator Jim Boudreau, the Army Corps of Engineers estimated that a full repair of the wall would cost roughly 30 to 35 million dollars.
"We're going to have to work with our state and federal partners. We might have to do it in sections in order to do it. But, obviously, something like that, the town can't afford to do it by ourselves," Boudreau said.
For now, Boudreau says he is focused on the storm ahead, not the portion of the seawall that is most damaged.
"We worry about that seawall, but we worry about them all. It doesn't necessarily have to be a sea wall that's damaged," Boudreau said.
