South Coast confronts rising seas

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Amy Messier works every day planning the future of Westport. So she knows the town will have its hands full deciding what’s next for East Beach. 

“It’s a complete mess,” she said. “We really don’t know what to do at the moment.”

In January, winter storms brought powerful waves to Westport’s coastline, eroding significant amounts of sand from East Beach and its waterfront lots. Surging waters pummeled East Beach Road with cobble, destroying it. Some waves even breached the Let Conservation Area.

Although the damage was significant, it was not unexpected. In 2021, Westport worked with the Woods Hole Group on a climate vulnerability assessment for East Beach. Messier, Westport’s assistant town planner, said the report predicted the beach’s response to worsening storms and rising seas — indicators of coastal climate change. 

Westport is now studying potential solutions, Messier said. 

“I think we’re at a point where it’s hitting the fan,” she said. “It’s important to act now.” 

Many South Coast towns are seeing these intensifying coastal trends. 

“This is a problem that we’re all going to have to pull together and deal with, because it’s in our front yards now,” said Fairhaven conservation agent Bruce Webb. Fairhaven has had seawalls damaged by winter weather.

In Marion, storm surge inundated the construction site for the new harbormaster’s building in December. 

“When I spoke to the harbormaster, who has been here for over 10 years, he said that’s the first time he’s seen it like that,” said Geoff Gorman, Marion’s town administrator. 

And in Wareham, a January storm caused coastal flooding that sent dumpsters floating down Merchant’s Way. 

“Climate change is real,” said Ken Buckland, Wareham’s director of planning and community development. “We have to be very careful in the future about where we invest time and money and resources.”

Rising sea levels and intensifying storms are reshaping the South Coast. Flooding roadways, beach erosion, declining salt marsh, and infrastructure damage are forcing towns to acknowledge that they must adapt to shifting conditions.

All seven waterfront communities along the South Coast have conducted at least one assessment of flood-prone coastal infrastructure through Massachusetts’ Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program. Some town officials are planning priority projects, while others are working to adapt roads and buildings for sea level rise, or move them inland. 

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From Wareham to Westport, January storm damaged coast

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Yet these leaders say public attention to the issue of sea level rise has waned in the region. They added that state funding, technical expertise, and regulatory reform will be necessary to prepare the South Coast for new climatic conditions — and the possibility of retreat from the coastline. 

“This is a statewide, countrywide, worldwide problem,” said Gorman. “The solution really has to come from the top down.”

A changing Massachusetts coastline

Andrew Ashton, a scientist studying climate and coastal change at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said clear evidence links rising seas to a warming atmosphere. And it can be found in southeastern Massachusetts. 

The tide gauge at Woods Hole shows sea levels have risen a little less than a foot in Massachusetts over the last century. Scientists at WHOI have found Arctic ice is melting at an “unprecedented” rate, and that humans are accelerating this change through greenhouse gas emissions. 

“There’s natural sea level rise that we also need to plan around,” Ashton said, “But the rate is going to be much, much faster.” 

Past emissions — which have resulted in roughly 2 degrees of warming over the last 150 years — are projected to result in 1 to 5 feet of global sea level rise by 2100. In the Northeast, sea levels will likely rise more than a foot above 2000 levels by 2050, according to a projection by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists. Continued emissions and warming could see the region experiencing between 2 and 7 feet of sea level rise by 2100. 

Melting sea ice and a warming atmosphere mean more intense storms and rising seas are coming for Massachusetts, Ashton said. And these effects of climate change will accelerate the erosion and accretion of coastal sediment.

Ashton said the coastline is constantly being eroded in some parts, and building up sediment in others. Yet residents in Massachusetts have built seawalls and other structures to armor themselves from storms. While these structures protect communities from the elements, Ashton said, they can also prevent these geological processes from happening where they naturally would, and cause problems for pieces of the coastline that people use. Ashton said climate change may exacerbate these detrimental effects. 

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Gorman of Marion said intensifying storms and rising seas are already accelerating erosion at Silvershell Beach. 

“We need to figure out how we can keep what is becoming a smaller beach, a viable beach,” Gorman said. 

Coastal erosion is also interfering with local economic opportunities, Dartmouth Harbormaster Steve Melo said. He explained that storms and higher tides have been eroding Smith Neck Road in recent years, pushing sediment into Padanaram Harbor’s navigational channel and making it difficult for boaters to enter the harbor.

Sea level rise also presents a growing problem for the salt marsh ecosystems that comprise roughly 80 miles of the Buzzards Bay coastline, said Rachel Jakuba, vice president for bay science at the Buzzards Bay Coalition. 

She explained that these marshes serve as valuable habitat for local wildlife, store carbon, and protect homes from storms. Yet the marsh grasses cannot tolerate being in saltwater full-time, and rising tides and storms are regularly inundating the marshes, causing die-off. 

With sea level rise accelerating, Jakuba says it’s time to act to preserve these habitats. There are vulnerable parcels in all seven South Coast towns, per a recent Buzzards Bay Coalition report. 

“It’s a little scary to think about,” she said. “We have to do something to try and save as much as we possibly can.”

Climate change isn’t just affecting the shoreline of the South Coast. University of Rhode Island geosciences professor Thomas Boving says higher sea levels, worsening storms, and a growing regional population are causing ocean saltwater to intrude into coastal wells across New England. He added that coastal septic systems across New England are also starting to fail due to a rising groundwater table and tidal inundation. 

Messier said parts of Westport are already experiencing intrusion of saltwater into private wells, and that winter storms inundated septic systems at East Beach, even washing some away to sea. 

“The bottom line is: what we see here now will be most likely a harbinger of what lies ahead,” Boving said.

Moving away from the coast

The effects of climate change on South Coast towns may seem slow-moving. But local leaders should prepare vulnerable coastal buildings, and the people who live in them, for the long-term effects of rising seas now, says Cynthia Dittbrenner, interim vice president of conservation and resilience at the Trustees of Reservations. In some cases, that may someday mean getting them away from the coastline, to avoid potential emergencies.

“We humans like to think of things as not changing,” she said. “But the coasts are incredibly dynamic.” 

Most regional officials identified low-lying roads, municipal buildings, and homes as vulnerable to coastal flooding and rising seas in the Trustees’ 2022 State of the Coast report. 

Dittbrenner said that adapting these assets to a changing climate in smaller towns may not always be cost-effective. So managed retreat — or leaving property too close to the water behind — must be an option for some communities. 

“We can’t save every building and every road,” she said. “We need to be thinking strategically at a regional scale about what are the highest priority areas, and which areas are perhaps a losing battle.” 

Mattapoisett is looking into moving its Town Hall, town administrator Michael Lorenco said, because the current location is in the FEMA velocity zone on the coastline. 

It’s one thing for the government to move to a new building. It’s much harder for the government to break the news to homeowners and business owners that they’ll have to flee rising seas. But local officials say that time may be coming. 

“There’s only so much we can do in tiny little Mattapoisett to impact global climate change,” Lorenco said. “If we can’t slow down the progress of climate change, we’re going to have to [consider relocations].”

Parts of Wareham are experiencing basement flooding during king tides, Buckland said, especially around Swift and Onset Beaches. Wareham recently completed a long-term planning study for its downtown, which showed that by 2100, all of it would be flooded by tides. 

“In the next two or three decades, we can continue to see investment in waterfront property and downtown,” Buckland said. “But we should be moving away.” He said the town is conducting an urban renewal plan study to determine where future investment should take place. 

Meanwhile, many residents in coastal Wareham cannot afford to relocate, insure, or upgrade their homes to federal floodplain standards. 

Buckland said the town is considering starting a municipal buyout program, and that the state needs to look into a buyout program for low-income coastal residents. 

“We have a real problem on our hands with the people we have here, because of flooding,” he said. 

It’s not just in the South Coast; managed retreat is gaining ground in discussions elsewhere in Massachusetts and beyond. In 2023, the Urban Harbors Institute at UMass-Boston released a survey of 70 coastal Massachusetts municipalities about managed retreat. 

Officials from more than 40 communities responded, which suggested growing interest in this strategy, according to Urban Harbors Institute director and lead author Kristin Uiterwyk. Yet the officials cited a lack of funding, space to relocate, and political will as obstacles to implementing managed retreat. 

Dittbrenner said that while managed retreat may be inevitable for some coastal Massachusetts communities, it is still “a very sensitive and difficult issue” for homeowners. She said conducting relocations in a phased, long-term approach, and providing adequate resources for communities to relocate, will be key steps. 

“We have to learn what it means to live with the water, when it is moving inland and becoming more dynamic,” said UMass Dartmouth Professor of Public Policy Chad McGuire. 

A wave of action on coastal resilience 

Meanwhile, across the South Coast, towns are preparing for rising seas and worsening storms. 

Some communities are ahead of the curve. New Bedford’s hurricane barrier provides strong protection from intense storms and high tides along the waterfront, said Michele Paul, the city’s resilience and environmental stewardship director. 

She added that New Bedford began planning for sea level rise more than a decade ago, and has already either built potentially vulnerable roads and pump stations on high ground, or elevated them to accommodate for sea level rise.

“We’ve already done the things that really needed to be done urgently,” she said. “Now we’re able to just be a lot more proactive rather than reactive.”

Lorenco, Mattapoisett’s town administrator, says he cannot “stick his head in the sand” over the present dangers. Not after 2023, when Angelica Avenue and Mattapoisett Neck Road flooded to the point of impassable twice during storms, and a tornado passed through town. 

“We’ve changed the dynamics of the planet, and Mother Nature is reacting,” Lorenco said. “We’ve gotta do something.” 

Lorenco said Mattapoisett is constructing emergency access roads for Angelica Avenue. 

In Marion, crews are building a new harbormaster building, which will be elevated 21 feet off the ground, Gorman said. 

Local leaders are also using green infrastructure to mitigate coastal change. Fairhaven and Dartmouth are working with the Buzzards Bay Coalition to help salt marshes migrate inland, which will provide natural storm protection for coastal homes. 

Messier said that Westport just started working on its multi-hazard mitigation plan, a key step in adapting to intensifying coastal flooding. And Paul said New Bedford is seeking comments for an update of the city’s multi-hazard mitigation plan. 

Still, these leaders note that they cannot solve the challenges of coastal change alone.

Massachusetts has a history of private ownership of the coastline, Dartmouth Environmental Affairs Coordinator Marc Garrett said, making local coastal resilience projects politically challenging and difficult to undertake. He added that aging wetland regulations and zoning rules have allowed residents to rebuild in risky areas. 

Ashton said Massachusetts is “way behind” states like North Carolina, which incorporate future shoreline erosion into planning decisions. 

Massachusetts is taking action on the issue of coastal resilience. In November, Gov. Maura Healey announced the creation of the state’s ResilientCoasts initiative, which will group coastal communities into “resilience districts” that will guide future state resilience strategies.

The state has also drafted regulations that will prohibit new development in the FEMA “velocity zone.” The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency is further studying a buyout program for homes in flood-prone coastal areas. 

Dittbrenner of the Trustees said she is excited about the collaborative spirit the state is displaying in developing ResilientCoasts. Yet she cautioned that the state may have difficulties implementing strategies “that aren’t always easy.”

Garrett of Dartmouth said that there is only so much bandwidth for the government to address coastal resilience, amid more pressing day-to-day challenges like migrants and homelessness. 

“We’re in a very interesting time,” he said. “The need is just unbelievable on all matters. And the resources are still limited.”

Gorman of Marion said he hopes the state initiative will give towns like his own a chance to join together around common priorities, and bolster their resilience amid a changing coastline. 

“If we all go standing up there in solidarity, I think we’ll get some headway,” he said. 

Email environmental reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@newbedfordlight.org.