Storm puts Plum Island homeowners on edge

PLUM ISLAND, Mass. -- Sunday’s Nor'easter has put some homeowners on edge on the North Shore.

The storm brought Clare Dunphy’s beachfront home a bit closer to the water.

The Dunphys said they tried everything they could to protect the house, even burying bales of hay in fences along the shoreline. They were supposed to prevent the dunes from collapsing but did little to help.

“We had a little bit of sand after they dredged the river, gone in a day,” Clare Dunphy said. “The hay bales were like tumbleweeds down the beach.”

Overnight, more than five feet of a 15-foot high dune was washed away.

“The tides were very, very high,” said Plum Island resident John Barnett. “They were four or five feet over normal, which was like a 10-foot-9 tide, so you’ve got over fifteen feet of tide.”

Out of fear that the deck might collapse, the city shut off power and water to the home.

“We’re in pretty dire straits out there on the island,” Dunphy said. “Until that jutty gets repaired…it’s horrible.”

People who live on the island and along the beach are familiar with erosion.

“It can be saved…but it takes a community action,” said one resident.

“I’ve seen it progressively getting worse and Mother Earth is going to run out,” said a resident.

“We can get…bags put in until the jutty gets repaired, which is really the issue,” Dunphy said. “Everything we do right now is a band-aid.”

The Dunphys said they are not going to give up on the home. There is an emergency meeting scheduled for Tuesday night to discuss the next step.

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