100-year-old sea wall in Salem fails during heavy rains, severely damaging homes
SALEM - A sea wall, which stood for more than 100 years, failed during the heavy rains on Saturday, January 13, and some Salem residents have lost nearly everything.
Mike Holt is one of several Salem homeowners whose home was severely damaged. "I was here when the wall collapsed. It was kind of like a disaster movie. It was thousands of gallons pouring in, and I had to escape upstairs," Holt said.
Many homes around Collins Cove and the Willows neighborhood were flooded when one of the sea walls failed. Streets turned into rivers, and basements were under several feet of water.
Zack Stephanides, who owns Steffy's Electric, says his work crews have been working around the clock, throwing out furniture and removing debris. The city also had a rapid response to implement short-term repairs. Many homes lost appliances and personal belongings.
"I lost all of our books, CDs and photographs down there," Holt said.
"We're trying to get a new wall here," said Steven Phipps of the Flood Control Advisory Committee (FCAC). The FCAC has been going back and forth with the city to replace the 100-plus-year-old sea wall and raise it about two feet.
"Things have dragged on so long. There's a million dollars appropriated for it, but that's a couple years ago now, so no telling what the price is now," Phipps said.
The city released a statement saying in part: "...we are now pursuing funding and engineering for a longer-term replacement. Additionally, we are working to advance improvements to the other Willows sea wall, which was over-topped, and flood mitigation systems that can be deployed throughout the city on an emergency basis in the future."
Holt said he would like to see change happen sooner. "I would like to see it raised by two feet. I think that would give me peace of mind that not only when there is a high tide but when there is a storm that brings in these big waves that they won't crash over the wall, that they'll stopped."
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