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Mass. EMS Uses Front-End Loader for Flood Rescue From Crumbling Home

Erin Smith, Matt Stout and Lindsay Kalter

Jan. 27--COHASSET -- South Shore officials have condemned two houses in Marshfield and are evaluating more, including one where emergency responders were lifted into the house by a front-end loader to avoid dangerously high flood waters and save an injured man amid the state's raging blizzard.

The ocean-side town is already grappling with floodwaters after an 80-foot section of seawall was washed away this morning, according to the Marshfield Fire Department. Powerful waves ate away the wall at about 8:40 a.m., department officials said.

On Ocean Street, officials used the front-end loader to lift EMS workers into one house, where a man had suffered a head laceration, according to Lt. Paul Taber, the town's emergency management director. Once inside, emergency workers were able to help him into a police humvee and take him to the hospital, and a neighbor later got his cat and dog to safety, Taber said.

"It was some of the deepest water that we've ever seen," Taber said of around the home, adding that two houses on the street have been condemned and a total of four houses, including one on Bay Ave, were being evaluated out of concerns they could collapse.

Across the South Shore, officials are girding for this afternoon's expected high tide after parts of Scituate saw as much of 5 feet of flooding during the opening surge of a massive blizzard.

Whipping winds, with gusts as high as 78 miles per hour on Nantucket, have battered the state, particularly south of Boston, where coastal floods has wreaked havoc on many streets near the water.

About 300 National Guard soldiers are assisting with four major operations, including a high water evacuation team standing by in Plymouth and Bourne, the stranded motorist program with state police at 19 locations throughout the state, as well as high water evacuation in Scituate and Hull.

Duxbury, Hull, Marshfield, Scituate and Quincy are experiencing roadway flooding due to high tides, and Plymouth crews rescued two people from a vehicle on Eel River by Long Beach.

Scituate has a 5-ton vehicle on-site to assist with evacuations from flood areas and two National Guard vehicles are in Hull to assist with emergency access to flooded areas.

Scituate Town Administrator Patricia A. Vinchesi said fire and police officials were evacuating people from the Humarock section of town this morning and some areas of the town had been flooded by as much as 5 feet of water.

"The wind has picked up considerably in the last 30 minutes," Vinchesi said at about 7:45 a.m. " We declared an emergency at 4:55 a.m. Things started to deteriorate at 3 a.m. as the tide began to rise."

Vinchesi said about 15 people were staying at a town shelter with several more en route.

"We had winds of 60 mph at 3 a.m. and we have over 11 inches of snow right now," Vinchesi. "This going to be a very long storm."

In Marshfield, high tides battered Brant Rock, where officials also rescued the injured man shortly before 5 a.m.

"It took a long period of time to rescue the man due to extreme flooding," Taber wrote in an emergency alert. "Marshfield DPW is having a difficult time keeping up with the heavy snow and at this time is supporting public safety to reach calls for assistance."

The National Weather Service was reporting nearly 18 inches of snow in Plymouth and another 14 inches in Taunton as of this morning. State officials said at a morning press conference that they performed some "non-emergency" evacuations on the South Shore, noting that the majority of the 500 activated from the National Guard are stationed along the coast.

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