Nantucket summer homes swept into ocean

Source: WHDH

NANTUCKET, Mass. -- Three old summer homes on Nantucket slip into the Atlantic Ocean.

Fire officials say it was just a matter of time before the houses fell off their eroded banks, and this week's nor'easter gave them a final push.

Firefighter Christian Ray says the unoccupied homes on Rhode Island and Sheep Pond roads probably lasted about 20 years longer than anyone expected.

Other than that, the island didn't suffer much damage from the storm that flooded other Massachusetts communities.



Read more: http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO49445/

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It's looking pretty rough on the mainland in Lowell as well. Who thought you'd need a boat if you lived inland?



http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO49444/

LOWELL, Mass. -- All eyes are on the Merrimack River in Lowell as rising waters associated with this week's nor'easter continue to cause concern.

Several roads have been closed to traffic and a shelter has been set-up at the Lowell Senior Center.

Even though a state of emergency has been declared in the city, Mayor William Martin says emergency officials have a handle on the situation and aren't expecting any major problems.

City Manager Bernie Lynch says DPW workers have been pumping water in an effort to keep the river from flooding local neighborhoods. Sandbags have been placed in front of the rain-swollen Beaver Brook.

The National Weather Service says portions of the Merrimack River in Middlesex and Essex counties will remain in flood stage over the next few days. ....

She was telling me about Francis' Folly, a stormgate put on some portion of the canal system that threads through Lowell (my alma mater, god help me).

This flood control gate, installed over 100 years ago, and derided roundly, has saved the city at least 3 times during 100-year floods.

Anybody want to send the Feds down there to take lessons?

in the last 100 years. :P

disaster relief...Millionares that scream for a "hands off government" will cry and pitch a fit till WE ( the taxpayers) pay for their dumb mistake for building houses that , inevitably, would have been swallowed up by the ocean anyway.

seriously NOW?

It reminds me of an article in my local paper about the collapse of bee colonies. A professional bee-keeper said, "I'm very, very conservative and I don't want the government in my business. But sometimes you need help."

DUH!!

These privileged idiots think government programs are a big waste of money.....until THEY need them!

... except for the months when I need 'em.

build their McMansions (or otherwise) there should pay for their own damn disaster relief or pay for appropriate insurance coverage and stop depending on federal taxpayers to bail them out. :grr:

you build your houses on stilts.

"All the other kings said it was daft to build a castle in the swamp..."

so I'm not sure if we can really blame the ones who built it for making a dumb mistake. They're probably not alive anymore, and the homes served their purpose in their lifetime. Having said that, it's hard to muster up a lot of sympathy for the current owners (whoever they might be), since it seems this has been expected to happen for 20 years.

unlikely.

Bet the loss of these homes gets reimbursed pretty fast.

to my back lot...

There was quite a bit of damage in the last big Nor'easter up there.

My mom's family once had one in Ipswich. There should be no compensation for unoccupied second homes.

not be covered? I don't see the reasoning.

Why should the U.S. taxpayers provide relief to wealthy people who lose their second, third, and fourth houses built in unstable areas? Especially when thousands of people in Mississippi and Louisiana still haven't received any federal relief for losing their only homes?

Please explain this reasoning.

If the homes have been under threat for a long time, why didn't someone salvage the weathered wood and probable vintage items inside and outside? Isn't there a pretty penny in that kind of salvage? As a dealer in vintage items, I'm drooling at the prospect.

Edit for P.S. Now that I think about it, maybe the insurance companies would not cover the loss if they had been salvaged.

That probably wont even exist in another hundred years or so.

I'm surprised those houses made it this long.They were saying a few years ago that Nantucket is one of the fastest eroding pieces of coastland in the US.

these homes were for the privileged few anyways. Perhaps now it can be a public beach for all instead of a backyard for the rich.

is the future Muskegut Island and Tuckernuck island

what Global Warming is saying rising sea levels will be taking over these islands

these pictures are just the beginning people

Se Level rise is occurringin Sundabarans and Indonesia due to Antartic melting and Nantucket and Norfolk and Suffolk are feeling it from the Artic

Oh its a big deal folks