The town, in partnership with the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center, will create a larger underground basin to allow better water flow out to the sea. Work could start later this year.
Extreme high tides and storm surge flooding inundated the south side of the Island on Tuesday, washing over coastal dunes, forcing road closures and eroding oversand trails.
Ferries were cancelled and schools and town offices shuttered Monday as a winter storm moved through the Vineyard, bringing blizzard conditions for nearly five hours.
Following a category two hurricane or a 50-year coastal storm, Beach Road and Eastville avenue would likely be buried under water, and the only remaining access to the Martha's Vineyard Hospital in Oak Bluffs would be Temahigan Road, according to preliminary results of a risk assessment study prepared by an independent consultant.
But even under a worst-case storm scenario, the actual hospital facility would avoid major flooding, the preliminary study suggests.
The town of Oak Bluffs is proud to be “StormSmart.”
Or rather, the town is on its way to gaining said smartness. Being StormSmart has to do with one of those scary, invisible truths that no one wants to think about: sea level rise. And the debate is over. No matter how well the human race conserves energy from here on in, the sea around us will rise. Conservative estimates show the sea rising at least three feet over the course of this century, not including the impact of the planet’s rapidly melting glaciers.
