With flooding expected, island residents cast a wary eye on the ocean

In the past two weeks, as two strong storms passed through the area, as much as 25 feet of dune has been lost in front of several homes along Southern Boulevard, where waves are now crashing just feet from residences. Huge sandbags now stand in the way of the water and several homes near the start of Northern Boulevard.

City and state officials say 26 homes have seen the ocean come perilously close, and eight of those are in imminent danger. "Trying to stop the Atlantic Ocean is a challenge,'' said Eric Woorall, the deputy regional director of the Department of Environmental Protection, which is monitoring the situation along the slender island.

Many of those residents whose homes are threatened have stockpiles of sandbags or mounds of sand ready as reinforcement, likely their only way to stave off the waters until the US Army Corps of Engineers starts pumping 120,000 cubic feet of sand from the Merrimack River directly on the shore. That project is expected to start sometime in September.

Recent storms and strong winds are to blame for the accelerated erosion recently, but Woorall said there are also other causes, such as a deteriorating jetty.

A storm rolling up the Eastern Seaboard dropped patches of snow and rain showers across the state today. The storm, which comes on the heels of one that thrashed the coastline last week, will pass southeast of Nantucket, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton. It has gathered strength as it moves toward the Northeast from the mid-Atlantic.

A coastal flood watch is in effect late from midnight tonight to 4 a.m. Thursday for the entire Massachusetts coast.

The risk of coastal flooding will be highest along the Plymouth County coast southward to Cape Cod and Nantucket, the weather service warned.

“I would imagine there has probably been a decent amount of erosion that’ll continue through tonight,” Dunham said.

A flood warning is also in effect until Thursday morning for Middlesex and Norfolk counties, and for the Concord River at Lowell and the Charles River at Dover.

Since last week’s storm, Dunham said, “We’re mainly just waiting for big rivers to finally recede.”

With temperatures in the mid-30s, little snow accumulation was expected throughout most of Massachusetts today, Dunham said.

“It’s still melting as it’s falling, and temperatures are going to have to get a lot colder before there’s accumulation on any roadways,” he said.

Snow is forecast for Thursday morning, though with little accumulation.