Winthrop Fares Well During Blizzard of 2015

There were some very happy people in town during the Blizzard of 2015 – children and local officials waiting to see how Winthrop Beach and Winthrop Shore Drive held up.

Just about a year ago the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) spread 350,000 cubic tons of sand on Winthrop Beach, along with some well-placed stones to replenish and restore the beach and sea wall. The project was about 80 percent complete at the time of the storm.

“It held up incredibly well given the history there,” said Town Manager James McKenna. “There was some loss of sand on the pavement. We were a bit lucky.”

The luck came from the direction of the storm, McKenna said. The storm, which dumped 24.4 inches of snow, had winds blowing from the north, northeast, and not just the northeast.

“The direction of the storm matters,” McKenna said, he added that the DCR built an impressive undercarriage. “There was not a tremendous splash over.”

The Pico Avenue area did have some flooding due to a storm drain backflow, McKenna said. The result was some flooded basements. There had also been a burm on Yirrell Beach that got pushed out and now it is gone. There was some wash over off Grandview Avenue and some flooding on the point. He added that the Lewis Lake area did well.

Inland, snow was the definite focus.

“Our challenge is where to put it (the snow) given the density of the town,” McKenna said. Due to federal regulations snow cannot be dumped into the ocean. The public works crews pushed back the snow on Veterans Road and cut back snow banks in the town center. With the second storm that hit Monday crews were at it again keeping streets and sidewalks passable.

“Of course a historic storm will come with historic costs,” McKenna said, adding that the town’s snow removal budget is between $150,000-$175,000. “We can exceed that and the state may reimburse some of it.”

He added that officials appreciate the public’s patience. During both of these snow storms there have been 32 public works employees and three contractors removing snow.

“I was on the phone with Robert DeLeo to secure a couple of trucks and front end loaders from MassPort,” McKenna said. “Two teams from MEMA (Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency) are helping to remove snow and the MWRA (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority) has been helping keep the truck route open.”

“Because of the density of the town our challenge is where to put it (the snow),” McKenna said.

“It was a true challenge given the size of our workforce,” said Winthrop Fire Chief Paul Flanagan, the town’s MEMA representative. In addition to the regular calls, 34 firefighters got the chains on the fire trucks and went around town digging out all 900 fire hydrants.