High wind and incessant precipitation from a powerful ocean storm that pelted the Island for two days largely abated Friday night, but not before flooding low-lying areas, disrupting travel and and threatening substantial erosion to coastlines.

Morning tide overtook piers in Edgartown harbor. — Jared Maciel

The Steamship Authority suspended most ferry service to the Island Thursday, as well as Friday morning's first four trips due to high wind. But by mid-morning Friday, all trips were operating on schedule. The Chappaquiddick ferry, which saw extensive flooding at the Chappaquiddick entrance as high tide approached Friday morning, canceled morning passage. Service resumed at 11 a.m.

Cape Air also canceled its flights Thursday and Friday morning. As of noon Friday, there had been only one flight operation at the Martha's Vineyard Airport.

"Much to everyone's happiness, it was the FedEx plane," airport manager Sean Flynn told the Gazette. "So the packages are here."

The two days of mixed precipitation combined with gusting winds flooded the Five Corners intersection of Vineyard Haven and the Dock street parking area in Edgartown. Beach Road and Lagoon Pond Road in Tisbury both experienced minor flooding Friday morning. And fast, breaking waves pounded shorelines while normally placid harbors churned and roiled.

Tisbury Department of Public Works director Fred LaPiana said the flooding pattern was the same as the blizzard of a month ago, with morning high tides creating a storm surge of about two feet.

"Aside from that been we've been very lucky in terms of not getting an appreciable amount of snow," Mr. LaPiana said. "We could have been hit hard."

The Oak Bluffs-Edgartown portion of Beach Road also experienced flooding, and was closed per a state highway request.

Oak Bluffs highway superintendent Richard Combra Jr. reported "quite a bit of damage" to the already storm battered and weakened East Chop Drive.

"It's kind of getting a little frustrating with these reoccurring storms," he said. "Normally we get one every five years; seems like it's every two weeks."

"We've had a lot of cleanup," Mr. Combra said, "but nothing we can't handle."

 

See our photo gallery of the storm, Ocean Storm Brings Gusting Winds, Surging Tides.