March Nor'Easter Storm Damage

It is March 20, the "Spring" Equinox and the coast is preparing for its fourth nor'easter storm of March. I thought I would share some photos of the storm damage from the first two storms. The storm eroded the dunes and pushed a lot of sand up against the north jetty between the spur jetty and the parking lot. In places the sand is almost to the top of the jetty. The concrete seawall near the benches and parking lot #1 on the reservation is almost completely buried under sand. The jetty itself seems to have weathered the storms in good shape. There was no obvious damage except for a couple of displaced stones at the tip. The same can't be said for the spur jetty, it took a pounding. Many stones from the top and beach side of the spur jetty were displaced and toppled down.

The storm threw large amounts of seaweed, clams, mussels, crabs, and sadly trash onto the beach. The sea gulls had a feast on all the dead marine life. People have been busy over the past two weeks collecting shells and other treasures from the beach. It appears that about every lobster trap which was in the water came ashore with the storms.

The north jetty held up well to the storms

 

At the tip of the jetty there appear to be only two displaced stones sitting on top

The dunes sustained a lot of erosion damage 

 

The metal beach access stairs were badly undermined by the dune erosion 

 

One of the concrete footings is exposed

 

Displaced stones on the beach side of the spur jetty

 Another view showing the spur jetty damage

 

Close-up

 

This boulder was tipped up by the wave action

 

A tangle of ropes and lobster traps

Dead clams and mussels by the thousands were thrown up on the beach

 and crabs which the sea gulls were feasting on

Parts of several large blue lobsters washed up as well