Daylight revealed the damage to the dune at Cahoon Hollow Beach.
Photo by AAP/CWN
CAPE COD – Strong thunderstorms moved across the Cape late Saturday afternoon and evening. Thunderstorms “trained” across Wellfleet dumping nearly 5 inches of rain and apparently caused part of the dune at Cahoon Hollow Beach/The Wellfleet Beachcomber to collapse. No vehicles were lost but some people were trapped on the beach below unable to get back up to the top. The Beachcomber was evacuated and closed for the night as a precaution. You may recall a large portion of the dune collapsed taking a vehicle in the Beachcomber parking lot with it in August of last year (see photo below).
Wellfleet Lifeguards/CWN
Sunday afternoon update: Sunday morning, Wellfleet Lifeguards report that Cahoon Hollow Beach has reopened after the dune was stablized. The Beachcomber was also planning to reopen at noon.
To illustrate how localized the impact was, when we got the call of the dune collapse our reporter left Provincetown where skies had cleared and a beautiful sunset was in progress. By the time they reached the Truro/Wellfleet town line it was raining heavily with lightning and thunder. Thats when the emergency alert went off on the cellphone for a flash flood warning. They decided to turn around and not drown. Our crew was finally able to reach the scene in the morning daylight:
Storm damage Cahoon Hollow/Beachcomber Wellfleet, MA 8/05/18 from Cape Wide News LLC on Vimeo.
Morning update: We reached the area Sunday morning and captured above video. Just down Ocean View Drive at Nellie Road, the rain created several ruts at least a foot deep. At the end of the road more evidence of collapsing dunes along with a utility pole that was in danger of falling over.
Elsewhere, the rain flooded a number or roads. A car became disabled on Commerce Road in Barnstable trapping two occupants. Barnstable firefighters responded to check their well-being until a tow truck could arrive. Vehicles were also reported disabled in flooded roads in several other towns. The National Weather Service reported 1.70 inches of rain in Mashpee. In Centerville nearly 600 Eversource customers lost power for a time after a transformer blew.
Cahoon Hollow Beach parking lot August 18th, 2017.
Wellfleet Police/CWN file
From Wellfleet Police: The outer cape is experiencing heavy rain that is causing street flooding. We have several vehicles stuck in the water on different roads scattered throughout town, needing to be towed.
Cahoon Hollow beach is closed and has no beach access at this time. The front lot is cleared of vehicles. The Beachcomber is closing and will not re-open tonight.
We will evaluate the damage over night and into the morning to determine if any beach closures due to access. We have the Pan Mass Riders scheduled to be traveling through town tomorrow as well.
Will look to provide an update tomorrow when we know more.
From Eastham Police: Many roads in Eastham have large puddles or have become flooded due to the torrential rain this evening. Please use caution and obey police cones and barricades that have been set out to close dangerous areas.
Steele Road is currently closed on the Massasoit Road end due to flooding. Thumpertown Beach is also not accessible at this time.
We are hoping that water will dissipate overnight and the roadways will be reopened by morning.
There are also scattered power outages in Eastham due to the storms.
