PLUM ISLAND — While the Newburyport region was bracing for as much as 18 inches of snow to fall as a result of the blizzard Sunday and yesterday, it wasn't the snow that became the greatest headache to many, but high winds and high tides.
Perhaps the most painful headaches were felt by Clare Dunphy and Dr. Sadru Hemani of Newburyport, whose Plum Island home was in serious danger of falling into the ocean.
By yesterday morning, the dune that had surrounded the modern beachfront home on 55th Street, in the Newburyport section of the island, was almost gone. The house stood on the edge of the high-tide mark.
Newburyport officials became so concerned that Mayor Donna Holaday, fire Chief Stephen Cutter, a representative from electricity provider National Grid and the city's building inspector visited the house yesterday morning, Dunphy said.
Dunphy said the city later shut off water and sewer connections to the house and cut off power during high tide yesterday around 4 p.m. Power was expected to be restored later in the day.
Dunphy said she and her husband recently petitioned the city to place several sand bags around the house, essentially creating a barrier to stave off the ocean a little longer. But judging by yesterday afternoon's massive waves smashing onto the beach and against the wood pilings that hold up the house, it appears that it won't be too long before Mother Nature has the final word.
"I love this house, but it eats your heart out," Dunphy said.
Dunphy and Hemani have another house near downtown Newburyport. So, should anything happen to their Plum Island house, which they typically use from May to November, they won't be left in the cold.
"But this is our favorite," Dunphy said.
The house stands at the end of 55th Street, along a stretch of beach where the city dumped 2,500 cubic yards of sand earlier this fall in an attempt to protect homes in the neighborhood. Within a few weeks, nearly all of the sand, which cost $75,000 to buy and spread, had disappeared.
Thirty years ago, when Dunphy and Hemani bought the Plum Island house, there was plenty of beach between it and the ocean. But over the years, the ocean has reclaimed most of the beach, especially after the South Jetty at the mouth of Merrimack River breached and allowed currents to scour the shoreline, Dunphy said.
Dunphy said she and her husband have approached the city several times for assistance. Years ago, Dunphy and her husband placed sand bags around the house and planted grass on top of them. Those were lost to the ocean.
When the first round of sand bags were gone, the city approved the use of hay bales, but those, too, have proven ineffective.
A little farther up the coast in Salisbury Beach, others were watching yesterday afternoon's high tide from their cars parked just off Broadway. Many braved the biting cold and wind long enough to snap off a few pictures. while others ventured outside just to soak in the bone-chilling scene.
"It's beautiful," Holly Busila of Shenandoah, Pa., said while taking a few photos. "I've never seen it before."
