Just when we thought we had seen the worst of it, whacked again!

These occasional “so-called” 100-year storms seem to be becoming a little more frequent. Somehow we have lost track of the timeline. Perhaps a new name could be “Seasonal weather dysphoria” – unlikely weather events becoming more likely! 

This may be a bit above my pay grade, that is, speculating about the frequency of unusual weather events, but it seems to me that we are experiencing some pretty unpleasant weather events more often. Certainly, in my 50-year tenure here in the region, weather is becoming more destructive more often. This past weekend storm certainly was no sissy. In fact, in terms of my observing local properties, in some cases,  there was more damage than in the previous two storms. It doesn’t take much to alter the severity, if I may be so bold. A slight difference in wind direction, tide height, storm surge, or wave push can make a big difference. Most of the damage for us seems to be coming when storms head our way from a south-southeast direction. I know that properties I check are most vulnerable when the weather comes from that direction.

Although last weekend’s tide height was a bit short of the 14.5 foot record-setting event of the previous storm, it certainly did not lack ferocity and damage. A run that I got help repositioning on Linekin Bay, nearly gone overboard in a previous storm, got saved again! This is no small matter. The run, heavily built and properly hauled on shore, got moved 10 feet across a substantial solid stone pier barely avoiding overboard discharge! Thank goodness the run had been tied off to nearby trees. Others were not so fortunate as was noted by floating portions of piers, floats and lumber.

In this week’s accompanying photograph good friend and Bristol Marine employee Tom Gerhardt was captured in an infrequent idle moment underneath the multi-tiered heavily built structures of the shipyard. Tom, along with others, was tasked with the cleanup and repositioning of many pilings that were lifted from their pinned footings by the two close occurring storms earlier in the season. Mike Beauregard, with longtime yard familiarity, and Cody Field also spent many hours in the low tide mud realigning and clearing pilings that support multiple piers. The big tide, previously mentioned, got under the piers and, along with substantial surge, lifted everything, including pilings connected to surface construction. When the tide receded, the pilings were repositioned, not returning to their original connection. 

Entire areas need to  jacked up and “reset” on to their proper location tying them back to rock foundation. I’m not sure if the most recent storm further complicated this task, but I’m certain it did not make the job any easier.

We are resilient folk but recovering from these storms will be a long project. I hope there will be time enough before the next storm to rebuild, with significant adjustment, helping to prevent future damage.