Tag: Long Beach

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:

https://www.rockportma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/186/Long-Beach-Seawall—FEMA-Project-73018-Drawing-Set-March-12-2020-PDF

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.

Long Beach shifting sands and seawall: Rockport DPW targets nature and infrastructure