Beachmont residents seek a scientific approach to neighborhood flooding

Advocate Staff Report

Beachmont residents have been taking part in community meetings that are part of the Beachmont Resilience Project sponsored by Coastal Zone Management. Revere’s oceanfront area is one of 16 communities that received grants through the Coastal Resilience Grant Program, which funds projects to support planning and shoreline management to help communities prepare for effects of climate change. Revere received $72,000 to study and strategize about flooding in the Beachmont area.

Residents of the neighborhood that abuts Belle Isle Marsh are meeting with coastal scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Coastal Zone Management to discuss flooding problems from the marsh and short- and long-term strategies for protecting their homes. They last met on Feb. 2, 2025.

The project focuses on the area of Pearl, Crystal and Winthrop Avenues and Summer Street, which experiences chronic flooding from the marsh. The team of scientists leading the project have been showing residents maps that predict where severe flooding will occur. The scientists are also relying on data, photos and video collected from Beachmont residents. According to Kirsten Homeyer, resiliency manager for the North Suffolk Office of Resiliency and Sustainability, the goal is to identify short-term actions and long-term solutions the city and residents can work together on to prepare for the future.

After showing maps that identify specifically which homes and parcels are likely to experience flooding, the scientists invited questions. One resident who said he had lived in the neighborhood for years asked if any thought had been given to some type of damming structure in the main channel to prevent water from flowing into the marsh and then the neighborhood.

According to Corner Austin, a coastal scientist from Woods Hole, a storm surge barrier has been discussed but the feasibility is difficult because of the cascading effects. Belle Isle salt marsh is one of the last remaining wetlands in Boston Harbor; everything else has been filled in and developed. The marsh, a reservation managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR), is considered a critical resource for the state. It’s valuable because of the species of birds, mammals, fish and insects and rare habitats that exist there. A member of the team explained that the marsh is a finely tuned environment that is sensitive to even small changes in water levels, and a flood gate or storm-surge barrier would cause an unacceptable impact to the marsh. Also, there are other ways for water to flow into the neighborhood, such as Chelsea Creek, Revere Beach and Winthrop parkways, so it wouldn’t be effective. Justine Rooney, of Woods Hole, added that the permitting process for a flood gate is long, and it’s expensive.

“We want to look at near-term projects with lower costs,” said Rooney, who then suggested sandbags, as a smaller adaptation that could reduce some flooding. Rooney said sandbagging wouldn’t work on just one individual property. Instead, it would take a stretch of around eight properties with sandbags to prevent flooding.

That theme of neighborhood unity and cooperation ran through the meeting, with scientists praising residents for sharing information about safe places to park cars and weather reports with one another. Neighborhood collaboration is seen as a significant asset in establishing resilience.

“It’s great to see there’s such a strong bond between neighbors,” said Homeyer. “I think that’s unique to this neighborhood.”

Toward the end of the meeting, one participant suggested that the cost of any flood mitigation project should be split 50-50 between residents and the City of Revere because residents choose to live near the water.

The next step for the project is to do a cost-benefit analysis of solutions and adaptations. During the month of April, the team will analyze short-term and long-term solutions. Another community meeting will be held in May, and a final report on the project will be released in June.