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Scituate begins recovering from massive storm impact

Print | Comments () Posted by Andrew Ryan, Globe Metro Desk December 28, 2010 02:33 PM

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Bill Greene/Globe Staff

Rick Bartley gives neighbors Sheila and Paul Kukstis a boat ride to retrieve some belongings from their flooded house on 7th Avenue in Scituate.

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent, and Jenna Russell, Globe Staff

SCITUATE – The Christmas weekend nor’easter may have caused millions of dollars in damage to this South Shore town, including ripping open a 60-foot breach in the sea wall along Turner Road, leaving 1,000 residents without power, and damaging dozens of oceanfront homes.

John Danehey, chairman of Scituate’s board of selectmen, told reporters today the town is examining homes one by one to determine the extent of the damage along the oceanfront. Scituate is prepared to seek state or federal funds to repair what Danehey thinks will be millions of dollars in damages, which he said the town cannot currently fund.

Approximately 100 people were evacuated from the storm’s path. Today, seven people remained at a shelter at Scituate High School.

The town will be doing structural assessments to homes to determine if they are safe before residents are allowed to return to them. Although officials said National Grid should be restoring power today to the hundreds still without, some could be without homes for weeks or even months.

“The immediate danger has abated but our real work has just begun,” said Patricia Vinchesi, Scituate’s town administrator.

A spokesman for the state emergency management agency, Peter Judge, told the Globe that Scituate, a South Shore town that has lost numerous homes to the sea over the years, may have suffered the worst of it.

“Scituate seems to be in the bull’s-eye,’’ he said.

On Monday, evacuations started in the Scituate waterfront at 5 a.m. According to two residents on Jericho Road, the water rapping on the side of their house woke them up.

“The water was up to here inside,” said Carmen Tirado with her hand up to her neck. “Everything floating.”

“We’ve had it high before, but it wasn’t that high. Never,” agreed Robert Ali, who lives with Tirado.

Ali added: “We got up at 2:30 a.m. in the morning and heard the water. But out the window, everything was dark. When the cars started floating by, and water splashing the house" it was clear something was wrong.

“The water was coming so high up the wall,’’ Tirado said. “The streets, everything was flooded. They couldn’t do nothing.’’

According to Tirado, the first floor of the apartment sustained severe damage. National Guard members helped evacuate many of their neighbors from their homes.

According to Cathy Mooney, who lives on 6th Avenue, the pops from the nearby fire woke the family up. When they looked out the window, they could see the blaze.

“I was just saying, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,’ ” Mooney said.

The couple was evacuated because of the fire, which was four houses away from their own.

Click here for photos of the damage in Scituate.