# Crews Evacuate House Hanging Over Ocean



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Plum Island Home Hanging Over Edge Of Sea *

_By M.R.F. Buckley, 
Staff Writer_

_







_

*BOSTON -- *Newbury fire crews evacuated a house on Northern Boulevard on Plum Island Wednesday, shutting off water, power and sewer service to the structure when it became apparent that beach erosion had put the property in danger of falling into the sea.

*Uncut Video: Ocean Threatens Homes*

The oil company was also asked to drain the home's oil tank.
The white clapboard house could be seen hanging precipitously over the edge of a cliff, with foamy surf crashing just beneath the back porch. 
"It looks like it might go," said Newbury Conservation Commission member Doug Packer. 
Several other nearby homes, south of the structure and also built on the dunes, were also precariously close to the surf crashing along the shore. Building debris from at least one of the homes could be seen floating in the water. 
"We were down there about 9:30 this morning and about an hour later the front porch went. Once the front porch went, and the debris got in the water, it impacted the cement block foundation to the east of the structure and then the house started to teeter ... you could see daylight underneath the structure ... it is definitely listing toward the ocean," Packer said. 
Packer confirmed that two or three homes nearby are in danger and a few miles away, near 54th street, there are a couple more imperiled structures, he said. 
"They don't have too many storms left between them and the ocean," Packer said. 
Plum Island is a slender peninsula of land on Massachusetts' Cape Ann coast, north of Ipswich and Gloucester, about 40 minutes north of Boston. 
Residents have said that a lack of repairs to jetties and dredging of the nearby Merrimack River in recent years have contributed to massive erosion of certain sections of the island's beaches. 
A strong rainstorm Tuesday lashed the area with high winds, roiling surf in the already highly eroded area. 
Packer said the town has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal and state agencies to try to "get a fix for Plum Island." 
He said he was not certain the house could be saved. The town building inspector was trying to make an assessment. 
"There has been some talk about getting some cribbing down on the beach and blocking up underneath (the house) but that would only get you until about, maybe 9 o'clock tonight, because when that next tide comes in it would undermine the cribbing. So, it would be more of a piling type situation that would be necessary to save this and whether that kind of effort could be put together in time to save this is questionable," Packer said. 
It was not clear whether the house was a summer residence or whether it was being lived in as a permanent residence.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/18152210/detail.html


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## KozmoKramer (Apr 25, 2004)

WOW... That is a powerful piece of footage...


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

Home owners used to be able to protect their homes, now they cant due to miles of red tape and govt crap!


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Plum Island Home Collapses Onto Beach








The home collapsed onto the beach with the help of machinery late Wednesday afternoon. 
WBZ

PLUM ISLAND (WBZ) ― A home on Plum Island collapsed onto a beach late Wednesday afternoon with the help of demolition crews.

The house on Northern Boulevard was battered by wind-whipped tides during Tuesday's storm and was on the verge of collapsing by itself.

Just after 4:30 p.m., an excavator nudged the house, knocking it over onto the beach below.

*RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK*

Newbury's building inspector was on site all day Wednesday with a crew trying to stabilize the home before the next high tide around 11 p.m. Unable to stabilize the home, officials determined it would be best to knock the structure down before high tide.

*WOMAN LOSES HOME
*
The woman who lives there, 78-year-old Geraldine Buzotta, scrambled to get her personal items out before the house collapsed.

Buzotta said her grandson heard cracking during Tuesday's storm and the two grabbed a few belongings and fled the home.

It was about 300 feet from the 5th Street restaurant in town.

*OTHER HOMES AT RISK*

Newbury's assistant building inspector Doug Packer told WBZ five or six other homes in the neighborhood are also in some danger.

An eight-to-nine foot surf usually comes into the area after storms, Packer said.

*Erosion has been a concern* along this stretch of the coast for years and this event may have been the final straw.

There has been a push to get sandbags in the areas of greatest concern.

Video:http://wbztv.com/local/home.collapse.plum.2.874557.html


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## KozmoKramer (Apr 25, 2004)

Oh man, that poor lady.. I hope at the very least she was well insured...
Imagine losing a home with that view.. Irreplaceable..


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Looters Strike Widow's Demolished Home*

*Beach Erosion Threatened House*

*NEWBURY, Mass. -- *Looters have struck what is left of the home a widow lost to the ocean on the day before Thanksgiving.

*Watch Homeowner's Story*

*Uncut: Watch House Demolished |*

* Uncut Video: Ocean Threatens Homes*

"Geri Buzzotta's entire life is in that rubble pile, and these people have no concern about bringing backpacks and metal detectors to this area to see if they can benefit from her misfortune," Newbury police chief Michael Reilly told the Eagle-Tribune.

Crews were forced to demolish Buzzotta's house on Plum Island after officials decided beach erosion had put the property in danger of falling into the sea. A strong rainstorm Tuesday lashed the area with high winds, roiling surf in the already highly eroded area.

Reilly said that after the demolition was shown live on television news, the location became easy for looters to find.

"They're coming from everywhere," he told the newspaper. He said looters have been ignoring the yellow police tape and attempting to steal the possessions left in the rubble.

"It sickens me to have to keep police officers posted at this site to keep these vultures away," Reilly said.

He did not say what might have been stolen. There have been no arrests.

Buzzotta, 79, lost the home she had shared for years with her late husband. A local inn has given her a room, free of charge, while she deals with her loss. Her family said she will eventually move to Florida.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/18173156/detail.html


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

friggin turds


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## StbbrnMedic (Nov 28, 2008)

OMG That is so sad. Some people can be such asshats. Seriously.


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