photos: Long Beach April 5, 2024
photos: Long Beach status April 2, 2024 https://goodmorninggloucester.com/2024/04/02/long-beach-seawall-conditions-2024/
Surfers and seawall after the storm. Long Beach.
Tag: coastal damage
Long Beach seawall status. Storm damage photos 2024.
Photo series journaling the impact from the 2023-24 winter storms and tides. Much of the wall and walkway look great.
The packed soil walkway atop the Long Beach seawall shows a loss of 1″ to 6″ vertical height, scraped for stretches along most of the wall (and more than a foot high loss by the old hotel). There are new and old potholes and cracks in the concrete sections beneath the handrail, and a single rapidly enlarging sinkhole at the footbridge end which is ready for a caution cone or barrel.
photo series: year vs. year comparisons
pinch and zoom to enlarge; right click for description
2024 seawall status
2022 vs. 2024
There are a few repeat vulnerable spots that have not grown rapidly (unlike the one in the photo block above).
2018-2024. How the Same spot changed over 5+ years
After a trio of March storms in 2018, the seawall pathway collapsed in two sections, revealing gaping chasms beneath (later filled). Fissures, cracks and seasonal pothole wear and tear were numerous. Thanks to immediate major repairs, the hollow underbelly sections were filled and packed down and the walkway widened pretty much the entire seawall. Rip rap boulders were shuffled into temporary pyres as extra wall support on the beach side.
photo caption: Same spot. Unlike the pathway which changed significantly, find the railing post to note the rough concrete chunk jutting out that has not changed.
Detail of the 2022 dislodged piece before/after
In 2019 major support was completed
In 2019, hundreds of tons of boulders were added strategically, and later an impressive quantity of sand. Unsurprisingly the sand was devoured by tides and storms–even on the very day it was deposited, swept straight away. The rip rap–mostly unchanged–and new walkway have held.
Seawall corner by the footbridge before 2018 vs. 2019 after added boulders
Boulder pile 2019 still here 2024. The big rocks work.
Aftermath of trio of 2018 storm damage
Before the 2018 winter storm trio, people discussed the pros and cons about raising the height of the seawall, removing it, and so on. After the major upgrades in 2018 and 2019, a town committee was established to study future options for the Long Beach cottages and seawall which wrapped up March 2022.
The 2024 Rockport Annual Town Meeting is scheduled for April 6, 2024.
The detailed Long Beach seawall schematics from 2020 can be found here:
Rockport DPW does annual maintenance. I can’t find updated plans and diagrams about the scope of the proposed next phase of the Long Beach seawall project, but will add them here if I do. Based on the estimated 2.8M award reported in the FEMA press announcement May 4, 2023 to be combined with the town’s match of 1.3M, perhaps it was solely repair and maintenance, and spots that had not been addressed in 2018 and 2019. It’s a long seawall! The 2020 schematic labels 350 feet of wall from roughly #58-#70 as damaged. After the path was tamped down, the bowing was visible.
After this winter, there are new additions (e.g. the vertical loss on the path and that sinkhole). That 2023 press release described a deeper wall section slated for reinforcement, but it doesn’t indicate how long or diagram where. It describes new stairs on the Gloucester side relocated within Rockport. I believe that the replacement stairs installed after the 2018 storm damage were temporary (still standing).
Rockport DPW response is swift and sure. Other than the sand, the infrastructure repairs and maintenance are strong and steady and coordinated with state and federal assistance.
- throwback: 2018 emergency repairs photo journal here https://goodmorninggloucester.com/2018/05/25/long-beach-status-sand-creeps-back-no-stairs-seawall-storm-damage-continues/
- throwback July 14, 2017: piece about Long Beach seasons of sand shifting and seawall. 2012 was a bad year for sand loss.It’s come back and gone again since.
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Fill rake and roll- next steps in the Long Beach seawall storm repair
What a stunner day for the next phase of the Long Beach seawall repair. They’re loading and raking in fill to level the walkway today. Roller still to come.
speedy backing up
this way and that still to come
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Repairing Long Beach Rockport Mass after storm damage|Busy New England DPW crews
Marveling at the tenacity of coastal towns- Cape Ann public works after winter storms are no joke.
Spring staircases
Rockport, Mass. The many access stairs for the Long Beach pedestrian walkway are put back each spring. Some years, the landing platforms on the sand side need repair. The 2018 winter storms pummeled each and every access point. Landings on sand and up top, the railings, and treads were entirely stripped. The rebuild for a few of the staircases will remain on hold until their immediate seawall areas are tended.
Water shoes this summer
From there to here: popples and rocks from the decimated barrier wall between Long Beach and Cape Hedge Beach were deposited along Long Beach.
Where’s the beach?
Spring 2018, the ocean is several feet deep at the rip rap line every high tide
Evolution of damage at beach barrier
Continue reading “Repairing Long Beach Rockport Mass after storm damage|Busy New England DPW crews”
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Riley Nor’Easter morning after second high tide #GloucesterMA: coastal damage homes and Long Beach seawall
Riley took bites out of the Long Beach seawall, and ripped out decks and fences wherever last night’s raging tide rushed. Debris strewn roads include large timber rails and rocks.
Good Morning Gloucester 