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Floodwaters piling up costly damages in Bay State's smallest town

NAHANT, Mass. — The relentless high tide cycles that continue to batter Nahant have turned neighborhoods into debris fields and everyday life into a recurring nightmare for those who live here.

“I spent one whole night running my sump pump manually to make sure the basement didn’t fill,” Barry Wootten told Boston 25 News.

Wootten lives on Willow road near the edge of the ocean-side town. The past several high tides have destroyed hi porch and left rocks and debris all over his yard.

He spent Wednesday trying to clean what he could before the next high tide.

"It's been eight tides in a row -- two maybe three – but eight? It's kind of getting weary," Wootten said. 
Fifteen pumps in different parts of town were running constantly Wednesday, but have yet to keep up with the floodwaters.

Even people who have lived in Nahant for decades say this is the worst flooding they’ve ever seen.

At the Nahant Golf Club, the managers say the course is under feet of water and it will be weeks, if not months, before things are back to normal.

Anthony Dedominicis is a managing partner at the golf club, which has been submerged since last Friday and even with the pumps running, the water has been extremely slow to recede.

“We have a St. Patrick’s Day tournament,” the course’s director of golf operations Toby Ahern said. “But they might be drinking and not playing golf.”

Town officials say the cleanup could cost upwards of $500,000. It’s a massive expense and headache for the Bay State’s smallest town.

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