Residents in Scituate are preparing for a potential coastal storm: East Coast
Residents in Scituate are preparing for a potential coastal storm that could bring strong winds and coastal flooding starting Friday and lasting through the weekend.
Mike Gaudette, who was pulling his boat out of the water, said he wanted to be cautious.
“Last year we had some decent swells that came through the inlet here and kind of rocked the marina a little bit, so just to be safe I thought, pull it out early,” Gaudette said.
The sunny skies and warm weather on Wednesday stood in contrast to the forecast.
“It looks like it’s going to be more wind than water,” Gaudette said.
There is particular concern about the wind, as trees are still full of leaves.
“The trees all still have leaves on them, act like giant sails if we get a lot of wind, we worry about those blowing down, branches coming down, power outages,” Gaudette said.
Scituate Town Manager Jim Boudreau encouraged residents to prepare for the storm.
“We’re telling people, hey, it’s a good time to get your generators tuned up, make sure they’re running. If you’ve got things that will blow around, put them away,” Boudreau said.
Tourist David Carrier, who was visiting Scituate, said the storm has already affected his plans.
Expected key impacts for Monday through Wednesday.
- Impacts: Major coastal flooding, extreme surf and heavy, continuous rain.
- Wind and waves: Strong Northeast winds will gust into the 40 to 50 mph range, building dangerous offshore seas with wave heights reaching 15 to 18 feet just off the coast.
- Inundation and erosion: Pounding wave action across multiple high-tide cycles will trigger major coastal flooding and severe beach erosion. Ocean overwash onto coastal roadways (like Highway 12) is expected, resulting in scenes similar to last year’s major coastal events.
- Rain outlook: Persistent rainy conditions will prevail, though widespread flash flooding is not currently anticipated.
