The southeastern storm of Monday blew hard for more than 16 hours. That’s an unusual direction for such a sustained onslaught.

It wreaked havoc along the south shore. Dozens of photos of the surf and shoreline reconfiguration have been posted online. Both ground level and drone snapshots and videos show a dramatically-changed landscape.

I went out to Wasque Tuesday afternoon about 18 hours after the wind subsided. I ran into several Chappaquiddickers on the same mission to see how much longer Chappy would remain an island. The waves were still substantial. I was thinking how to put into words what we were seeing. One word came to mind: wow!

The east end of Norton Point has been scoured flat almost as far back as the swimming beach parking lot. The sand has been washed into the channel that the advancing barrier beach had created parallel to the Wasque bluffs. Aerial photos show that it is now quite shallow at low tide.

Then there is the new breach way back up the shoreline towards Mattakesett. The Edgartown Parks department figures that it is 200 yards farther west from where the current Wasque breach started just a year ago. From a distance, it looked to be flowing freely but upon closer inspection by kayaker Dana Gaines, the water flow was caused by waves washing over. We’ll know very soon whether it will become a true breach. If it does, the interaction between two breaches will be interesting.

This storm was also the first time in a year that Dock street flooded. Apparently, the breach is no longer big enough to allow the storm-driven water to leak out at the south end of Katama Bay. The water was a foot and a half deep at the ferry ramp on the Edgartown side.

We sloshed around in a couple of inches of water in the ferry house at the height of the storm. The ferry only ceased operation a couple of times during that day. For 10 minutes in the morning when the wind blew 53 m.p.h., kicking up waves that broke onto the deck of the ferry, and another 10 minutes in the afternoon when rain squalls reduced visibility to zero as the front passed over.

Remember that the Chappy Ferry operates on a curtailed schedule Christmas morning. The ferry will run on the hour at the top of the hour with the first trip at 7 a.m. Then at 8, 9, 10 and 11 for whoever is in line at that time. Starting at noon, the normal continuous service resumes.