Penelope Wilson
The shock waves of last week’s storm are still rippling through Island fields as farmers anxiously watch their crops to see the extent of the damage.
Hurricanes and Storms
Hurricane Bob
Rachel Orr
Usually the brush is so think this time of year one can hardly bushwhack from the shore to the remnants of the Menemsha Hills brickworks.
Hurricanes and Storms
Hurricane Bob
Beach grass

1998

The storm formerly known as Hurricane Bonnie swerved south and east of the Vineyard this weekend, passing some 120 miles away and bringing little more than a breeze and a bit of rain while the surf on South Beach roared.
 
The distant passage of the storm was good news to a waterfront community that had been preparing all week. As late as Friday afternoon, tired crews continued to remove boats from the water at both Edgartown Marine Associates and Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard.
 

1996

Hurricane Edouard slowly brushed past Martha’s Vineyard yesterday, battering the coastline with fierce, gusting winds and torrential rains, causing property damage, power outages and rudely interrupting the plans of thousands of Labor Day travelers.
 
The Vineyard was spared the brunt of Edouard - the eye of the hurricane rumbled east of Nantucket early yesterday afternoon - but its blustery, fitful grip upon the Island was long, gloomy and occasionally intense.
 

1991

The northeast storm that walloped the Island last week caused an estimated $3.4 million in damages.
 
Martha’s Vineyard fared better than her Cape Cod and Nantucket neighbors. Still the damage incurred was enough for President George Bush to consider Dukes County one of six Massachusetts counties qualifying as a federal disaster area.
 
The storm battered the coastline, eroding cliffs up to 15 feet in some areas and damaging docks, beach stairs, boats and buildings.
 
Five fishermen were stranded on Nomans Land for more than five hours Wednesday, waiting for the U.S. Coast Guard to rescue them.
 
The fishing crew were aboard the Michelle Lane, laden with fish and bound for New Bedford when it ran aground at 1:10 a.m. off the south side of Nomans.
 
The crew contacted the Coast Guard about their predicament. At 9:56 a.m. the fishermen abandoned ship and sought refuge on Nomans.
 
The stranded men were Brandon Chase, Thomas Albee, Mike Train-ham, Mark Wrigley and Mike Mont­gerzero.
The northeaster that battered the Vineyard this week was like a hurricane, only worse. This time the wind lasted a lot longer than four hours. It lasted days.
 
The Island received a hint of the coming severity on Tuesday. The South Shore had breached in several places. At high tide that day, parts of Beach Road in Vineyard Haven flooded. Seaweed and water filled boats tied to the town dock at Owen Park.
 
Wednesday started off blustery. Conditions deteriorated as the day progressed.
 
A huge Atlantic Ocean storm with the ferocity of a hurricane and the power of a winter northeaster pounded the Vineyard this week, raging across barrier beaches and sandy Island perimeter with flood tides not seen since the double hurricanes of 1954.
 
On Wednesday ferry service to the Vineyard was suspended and the Vineyard was lashed by high winds and angry seas, which rose up and flooded the main areas of the down-Island towns with two or three feet of salt water.
 

Pages