Massachusetts

Wellfleet Beach Remains Closed After Rain Causes Sand Dune to Collapse

A Massachusetts community is repairing a popular beach area after a sand dune collapsed last week.

Like countless families, Leah Pacione has been coming to Wellfleet's Cahoon Hollow Beach with her kids every year.

“We love the beach,” said Pacione. “We love this spot. We take our annual family picture here.”

But this year, things are different.

“The police ‘do not cross signs’ were a little nerve-wracking,” said Pacione.

Torrential rains caused a sand dune to collapse early last Friday morning, even swallowing up a parked car.

The beach has since been closed and as the caved-in dune took out part of a parking lot, it's been impacting business at the popular Beachcomber.

“It’s affecting our business,” said Beachcomber manager Stephen Ross. “There’s no access to the beach right now. We lose a lot of parking.”

Tuesday night, Wellfleet’s Beach Administrator told town officials the long-term goal is to repair the dune and the parking lot, but that will take time.

The short-term goal is to open up the beach by the weekend.

“This is key because people certainly don’t want to go to a parking lot and look out at the beach,” said Beach Administrator Suzanne Grout Thomas. “They want to go down to the beach.”

Town officials will have an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss long-term fixes to the dune and the parking lot, and to try and figure out how they’re going to pay for it.

As for Leah, she’ll still get that family photo. She’ll just have to crop out the yellow barricades.

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