Storm surge nailed the coast of Beachmont and even pounded Revere Beach Monday morning – with the high tide mark at 11 a.m. producing some pretty dramatic waves.
Winthrop Parkway was shut down Sunday night and the flood gates were closed early on. Waves began pounding the seawall from Roughan’s Point to Short Beach around 8:30 a.m. At first, occasional big waves poured over the wall, but as the high tide approached, virtually every wave was sloshing hundreds of gallons of water over the seawall and onto the road.
At Short Beach, boulders weighing more than two tons were batted around by the storm surge as if they were beach balls.
It was a powerful storm, but it appears that flooding and property damage was kept to a minimum.
For those in Beachmont, many believed this was the strongest storm since the Army Corps finished its Flood Revetment Project in 1999. So, that would make this storm the most viable test case for the project to date. No waves had ever hit the new seawall with such force as they did Monday morning.
The storm surge was made all the more powerful due to an exceptionally large high tide and very, very low barometric pressure.
Endicott Avenue was a virtual party all morning, with four network television stations establishing posts at the high point on Endicott along with hordes of onlookers and picture takers. Several city councillors also made an appearance, including Ward 1 Councillor Doug Goodwin and Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky. Also, DPW Super Don Goodwin was monitoring the situation.
It was quite an event stirred up by Mother Nature.