Scituate, MA flooding concern with nor’easter

Sleet, freezing rain and wind picked up late Wednesday morning, as the South Shore braced for the incoming nor'easter.

"When the water comes over the seawall, it's going to come up underneath your deck and pop all of these boards," said Bill Hoover of Scituate.

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Hoover knows the damage a nor'easter can do first-hand. Having lived along the water in Scituate for a quarter century, he knows you have to take even a weaker spring storm, like the one headed our way, seriously.

Here's a quick rundown on the strong winter-feeling storm moving across Massachusetts, bringing snow to some. Gov. Maura Healey says the state is prepared.

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"We want to make sure that we board up our windows, at least on the first level because there's boulders about this big that can be carried by the waves and thrown over top of the seawall on both sides," said Hover.

He said he and his neighbors will be spending much of the day making sure to flip over furniture and tie up or store loose items outside.

"We have a couple of paddleboards up here and the wind has actually picked them up and slammed them against the house, broke some windows," said Hoover.

With a nor'easter headed to Massachusetts, coastal communities are concerned about the potential of minor flooding.

Fisherman Danny DeRose said they've had to dock their boats and tripled up the lines to keep them from pulling free during the storm.

"It looks like it's going to be three days of some pretty good wind, some pretty good waves, possible like flooding here in the harbor, definitely no way we're going to be out," laughed DeRose.

The water was calm in Scituate Wednesday morning. But the town will be bringing in extra crews and high-water vehicles to be prepared for high tide during the storm.

"It's going to be messy is what we’re seeing from the forecast. A lot of rain, the tide on Thursday morning at about 8 o'clock, that's going to be over a 12-foot tide, winds from the east, northeast, so that's going to be messy in the low-lying areas," said Scituate Town Administrator Jim Boudreau.

Officials said one other concern is the ground is so saturated that trees with shallow roots, like pine trees, might be vulnerable to toppling over with more rain and wind. That could cause additional power outages.