BOSTON — Power is slowly being restored in the hardest-hit areas of the East Coast, days after a destructive nor'easter downed trees and power lines, flooded coastal towns and forced a number of school districts to cancel classes - all with another storm forecast for midweek.
As of 6 p.m. on Monday, Pembroke and Norwell were the two hardest hit areas with the highest percentages of power outages.
National Grid says that there are still 19,000 people in Plymouth County without power. As another storm is in view for this week, utility companies are preparing to make sure towns that just got their power back don't lose it.
According to National Grid, the biggest problem in Norwell and Pembroke were the downed trees that toppled over and impacted power lines. For this week's storm, however, they're not expecting as much damage to be caused.
"They're large trees that in many cases have come across the streets and damaged poles and snapped the poles or pulled down the wires," said a National Grid spokesperson.
MORE: What to do after your home is damaged during a storm
Residents from Virginia to Massachusetts faced a massive cleanup Monday following the storm, which was blamed for nine deaths, including two children struck by trees. Utility crews worked around the clock to restore power to the affected areas, as nearly 300,000 struggled without electricity. At the height of the storm, more than 2 million homes and businesses were without electricity.
Three days after the storm, some residents were still unsure when they could return to their homes.
The storm pounded the Eastern Seaboard with a combination of gusting winds, rain and snow, and coastal communities were left to deal with damaging high tide flooding as powerful waves and churning surf pounded shorelines and beachfront homes.
Even as the cleanup is underway, the forecast is for another storm to churn up the coast midweek.
Public work crews are working as quick as they can before the next storm hits. On the South Shore, large rocks are being placed where the sea wall has failed.
MORE: Crews on the coast working to repair sea walls ahead of midweek nor'easter
However, the difference between the Friday nor'easter and the one expected to make landfall on Wednesday is that this time the high tides aren't coinciding with the storm, meaning there won't be as much damage to the coast this time.
Towns and cities along the coast were still feeling the effects of the storm as waves continued to crash onto houses and breached seawalls.
On Monday the high tide was still too much for some residents. In Marshfield, there is still flooding and seawalls are still breaking.
Residents in Marshfield and Scituate say they've never seen this much damage, as the breached seawall allowed for even more coastal exposure to the high tide.
"I keep coming back every high tide and hoping it's going to be a little bit better," said Amanda Crowley, who just bought a beachfront home in Marshfield. "Doesn't seem to be getting much better. I think it's because the sea wall behind our house is gone so there is nothing to protect it now."
Below you can check out the conditions today in the South Shore as Boston 25 News reporter Robert Goulston spoke to residents in Marshfield and Scituate.
As for the North Shore, things aren't looking much better.
Rough seas are still causing issues in towns like Salisbury, where sand walls were no match for the massive waves on Monday afternoon.
Businesses along the boardwalk woke up to flooded streets which remained waterlogged for more of the day as waves kept dumping more and more water past the sand walls.
In his 12 years as an owner of the Uncle Eddie's bar, Mike Pacheco says this winter has been the worst and wettest by far.
"It almost seems like the ocean is getting a lot more fierce and coming closer," said Pacheco. "On Saturday we ot about eight inches, went all the way to the back."
Over the weekend, his bar on Salisbury boardwalk was drenched with sea water, and the relentless high tides on Monday continued to pour and splash over the huge sand walls.
"Winter is getting worse, no question about it," said Dave Torris. "Just a matter of time until the flats meet the ocean."
While crews are working to reinforce the sand wall, residents are wondering if more long-term solutions are being considered.
"Build a seawall, I think that would help," said Robin Turcotte. "Look, they got all this sand, 10-20 feet high."
By Monday evening, however, the water in Salisbury had already started to recede, which will allow for cleanup in the area to begin.
Boston 25 News reporter Jacob Long was in Salisbury on Monday, take a look below at what it was like:
You can check the latest outage reports here.
MORE: Crews working non-stop to restore power to South Shore communities
Associated Press
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
