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Jose's Winds Battering Massachusetts Coast Don't Stop Cape Beachgoers

SANDWICH (CBS) -- High winds are kicking-up waves along Massachusetts' southern shores from Scituate, to Sandwich on the Cape, and to Nantucket Island.

The high winds and waves have caused downed power lines, power outages, and some minor beach erosion from Scituate to Plymouth.

In Scituate, the waves were high enough to push water under the houses and erode the sand.

waves-under-scituate-houses
Waves washing under Scituate beach homes. (SkyEye/WBZ-TV)

Plymouth resident John Clark said a large pop made him a little nervous.

"I had a little apprehension this morning when I heard the crack and the power went out. I ran around the house and made sure it wasn't ours," Clark said.

Winds pushed waves over the seawall and over the roads.

Plymouth residents spent a large part Thursday without power, but overall, residents like Carol Kuhn say it's about like a Nor'Easter.

"No, I'm not really concerned. It's a little windy, but no, I'm not concerned," Kuhn said.

scituate-winds
Winds over a south shore sea wall. (WBZ-TV)

 

Those heavy winds and high waves had a different effect on some Cape residents. They're actually going to the beach to see the show.

Sandwich resident Steve Manning says the winds aren't that strong.

"I don't think the wind is that strong, as it was, like, you know, compared to Hurricane Bob or the others," Manning said.

Manning says that he was out walking his dog and decided to take a look at the waves.

"I'm just down here looking at the waves and to see how high they're going to get," Manning said.

A Sandwich native who only gave his name as Adam says he's seen worse.

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be," Adam said.

"Where I live, farther up in Sandwich, not so bad. It's a lot windier down here. I haven't seen any trees down or anything yet," Adam said.

Adam says this storm is more like a winter Nor'Easter, and nothing like Hurricane Bob, which he remembers from 1991.

Pascal says he's from France, but now he lives in Connecticut. Pascal says this storm reminds him of some of the storms back home in France.

"Yeah, check it out, check out the beach. It looks like, especially where I'm from, we get storms like this over there so, it's pretty close," Pascal said.

Pascal was actually trying to catch something other than a look at the beach. He was out fishing and he says the fishing, "is not good. It was good a couple of days ago, but not today."

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A sailboat being tossed by Nantucket waves. (WBZ-TV)

The Steamship Authority says winds and waves have been high enough to cancel Thursday's Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard ferries. The authority says Nantucket service will resume when the wind and sea conditions improve. Friday's service for the Martha's Vineyard ferry will resume, "On a trip by trip basis as soon as the wind and sea conditions improve."

See Pamela Gardner Report From Nantucket

However, some Cape businesses have been more affected by the storms in the Caribbean.

Cape Air Founder and CEO Dan Wolfe says the airline has a number of workers who operate out of the Caribbean

"Their operations are Tortola, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Vieques, and San Juan and all of those airports are currently shut down and their communities are just, it's a disaster area," Wolfe said.

Many of their workers have checked in, but not everyone.

"We have not actually been able to make contact yet with Vieques and with Tortola after this last storm," Wolfe said. "So no we haven't guaranteed that with all of our employees, but we haven't heard that anyone isn't doing okay."

Wolfe says he was supposed to go to the region next week but has put that on hold for a couple of weeks. He says he doesn't want to show up and end up being part of the problem.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports

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