Cape Cod waterfront restaurant preparing for the worst as Henri looms
By
Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Aug 20, 2021 2:27 PM EST
|
Updated Aug 21, 2021 3:22 AM EST
Tropical Storm Henri, currently near Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean, could have major effects on New England by this coming weekend.
An average August weekend in Cape Cod usually looks like scheduling an evening of lobster rolls at the Skipper Chowder House Yarmouth, followed by ice cream at the Sundae School in Dennisport before ending the night by the lighthouses in Nauset.
But Henri doesn't care about those plans.
The Atlantic hurricane season is supposed to be a worry for New Englanders' fellow countrymen located in the southeastern portion of the United States. However, for the first time in several years, residents of the region have just as much reason to keep checking the weather forecast for the latest hurricane coverage as anyone in the Bayou.
"We’ve actually been tracking this storm for a couple of days now, and we’ve been using AccuWeather," Aidan Delaney, co-owner of the Skipper Chowder House in Cape Cod, told AccuWeather. "That’s what we've been continuously going to, to make sure that we stay up to date ... Safety has always been our top priority, so we want to make sure that we keep our staff safe and patrons safe."
The front of the Skipper Chowder House, in what Delaney called "the calm before the storm." (Skipper Chowder House/Aidan Delaney)
As one of Cape Cod's oldest waterfront restaurants, Delaney and his family know the dangers that a storm can impose on their town of South Yarmouth as well as on their business.
Based on the latest forecast updates of the looming storm, that means likely boarding up the building and shutting down operations on Sunday ahead of Henri's arrival, he said.
But that certainly didn't keep the crowds away from the 85-year-old seafood staple on Friday.
"To be honest, today it seems like the calm before the storm," Delaney said Friday morning. "It just seems like business as usual. There doesn’t seem to be much concern with the patrons, so to speak. Like right now it’s 11:15 a.m., and our deck is almost full upstairs."
Patrons eat at the Skipper Chowder House in Cape Cod ahead of Hurricane Henri's arrival. (Skipper Chowder House/Aidan Delaney)
Throughout Cape Cod and surrounding areas of New England, a sense of terrifying excitement shrouds one of the busiest vacation times of the year.
Although AccuWeather's expert meteorologists are forecasting the storm to make its landfall in Long Island, officials in Connecticut expressed their worry for the storm ahead of the busy weekend.
“This storm is extremely worrisome,” Michael Finkelstein, police chief and emergency management director in East Lyme, Connecticut, told KRQE. “We haven’t been down this road in quite a while, and there’s no doubt that we and the rest of New England would have some real difficulties with a direct hit from a hurricane.”
In central Massachusetts, the town of Acton's recreation department canceled a scheduled beach party, but many residents farther inland have said they haven't paid too much attention to the storm.
But in a news conference on Friday, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said now is the time to begin preparing.
"Right now, the forecast calls for just about all of Massachusetts to see significant rainfall and possible flooding," Baker said. "The track of the storm can obviously change slightly, so all residents should be paying attention to their local weather alerts and the news stations and to other outlets and to begin your preparations for this storm today.”
Part of that preparation on a statewide scale included activating 1,000 members of the state's National Guard for the duty of water rescues.
This OES-16 East GeoColor satellite image taken Friday, Aug. 20, 2021, at 11:40 a.m. EDT., and provided by NOAA, shows Tropical Storm Henri in the Atlantic Ocean. Henri was expected to intensify into a hurricane by Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Impacts could be felt in New England states by Sunday, including on Cape Cod, which is teeming with tens of thousands of summer tourists. (NOAA via AP)
According to Baker, "they'll be ready to assist with high-water rescues, debris clearing and public-safety support should it be necessary."
Although it is certainly rare for the area to have to deal with a tropical storm, Delaney said that he is confident that the locals of Cape Cod will know to take the storm seriously. While tropical systems may be uncommon, cases of severe weather occur frequently and the perils of bad weather have taught people to respect Mother Nature, he said.
"We always have a belief to plan for the worst and expect the best," he said.
And while it has been 30 years, part of the Delaney family's understanding of how to handle tropical storms dates back to their experience with Hurricane Bob.
That year, Bob made landfall in Rhode Island as a Category 2 hurricane on Aug. 19. Now, nearly exactly three decades later, Delaney's waterfront restaurant knows the conditions to prepare for.
FILE - In this Aug. 20, 1991, file photo, boat owners gather their belongings along the shore in Dartmouth, Mass., after Hurricane Bob swept through southern Massachusetts. New Englanders, bracing for their first direct hit by a hurricane in 30 years, are taking precautions as Tropical Storm Henri barrels toward the southern New England coast. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
"We’ve been monitoring the winds," he said, adding that the restaurant has already made the call once this summer to close due to high winds. "Coastal flooding is always another big concern of ours and making sure that if the storm is coming this way that we take the right precautions."
Despite the hardship that businesses and especially restaurants have endured over the past year due to COVID-19, Delaney said his biggest concern is for patrons and employees that would need to drive in the storm if they stayed open.
He said that while the industry is struggling "more than ever," this storm could be a blessing in disguise for keeping people home.
"[It's important] that they spend time with their loved ones during something as scary as a hurricane," he said. "We want people to be safe, we want people to be with their families and that, as a family business, is our biggest concern."
In popular tourist areas such as Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, multiple people told AccuWeather that Henri has forced an adjustment on their travel plans. For some, that means cutting the vacation short and catching an earlier flight home.
But for others, even that may already be too little, too late. As one Martha's Vineyard vacationer told AccuWeather, even if they wanted to get off the island right now, they wouldn't be able to. Reservations for ferry rides on or off the island had to be made months ago, and now it's almost impossible to get anything else.
While Delaney didn't say his restaurant had a clear-cut threshold of when they may make the decision to close operations for the storm, he said they were preparing for the worst, or as he said, "we’re planning for a hurricane, you know, not planning for a tropical storm."
"Unfortunately, as much as I hate to say it, the weather is out of our control," Delany said. "But what we can do is prepare and prep and make sure that the people that work here and the people that come and enjoy our restaurant are safe. So we’ll make the right decisions to keep those people safe."
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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News / Hurricane
Cape Cod waterfront restaurant preparing for the worst as Henri looms
By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Aug 20, 2021 2:27 PM EST | Updated Aug 21, 2021 3:22 AM EST
Tropical Storm Henri, currently near Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean, could have major effects on New England by this coming weekend.
An average August weekend in Cape Cod usually looks like scheduling an evening of lobster rolls at the Skipper Chowder House Yarmouth, followed by ice cream at the Sundae School in Dennisport before ending the night by the lighthouses in Nauset.
But Henri doesn't care about those plans.
The Atlantic hurricane season is supposed to be a worry for New Englanders' fellow countrymen located in the southeastern portion of the United States. However, for the first time in several years, residents of the region have just as much reason to keep checking the weather forecast for the latest hurricane coverage as anyone in the Bayou.
"We’ve actually been tracking this storm for a couple of days now, and we’ve been using AccuWeather," Aidan Delaney, co-owner of the Skipper Chowder House in Cape Cod, told AccuWeather. "That’s what we've been continuously going to, to make sure that we stay up to date ... Safety has always been our top priority, so we want to make sure that we keep our staff safe and patrons safe."
The front of the Skipper Chowder House, in what Delaney called "the calm before the storm." (Skipper Chowder House/Aidan Delaney)
As one of Cape Cod's oldest waterfront restaurants, Delaney and his family know the dangers that a storm can impose on their town of South Yarmouth as well as on their business.
Based on the latest forecast updates of the looming storm, that means likely boarding up the building and shutting down operations on Sunday ahead of Henri's arrival, he said.
But that certainly didn't keep the crowds away from the 85-year-old seafood staple on Friday.
"To be honest, today it seems like the calm before the storm," Delaney said Friday morning. "It just seems like business as usual. There doesn’t seem to be much concern with the patrons, so to speak. Like right now it’s 11:15 a.m., and our deck is almost full upstairs."
Patrons eat at the Skipper Chowder House in Cape Cod ahead of Hurricane Henri's arrival. (Skipper Chowder House/Aidan Delaney)
Throughout Cape Cod and surrounding areas of New England, a sense of terrifying excitement shrouds one of the busiest vacation times of the year.
Although AccuWeather's expert meteorologists are forecasting the storm to make its landfall in Long Island, officials in Connecticut expressed their worry for the storm ahead of the busy weekend.
“This storm is extremely worrisome,” Michael Finkelstein, police chief and emergency management director in East Lyme, Connecticut, told KRQE. “We haven’t been down this road in quite a while, and there’s no doubt that we and the rest of New England would have some real difficulties with a direct hit from a hurricane.”
In central Massachusetts, the town of Acton's recreation department canceled a scheduled beach party, but many residents farther inland have said they haven't paid too much attention to the storm.
But in a news conference on Friday, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said now is the time to begin preparing.
"Right now, the forecast calls for just about all of Massachusetts to see significant rainfall and possible flooding," Baker said. "The track of the storm can obviously change slightly, so all residents should be paying attention to their local weather alerts and the news stations and to other outlets and to begin your preparations for this storm today.”
Part of that preparation on a statewide scale included activating 1,000 members of the state's National Guard for the duty of water rescues.
This OES-16 East GeoColor satellite image taken Friday, Aug. 20, 2021, at 11:40 a.m. EDT., and provided by NOAA, shows Tropical Storm Henri in the Atlantic Ocean. Henri was expected to intensify into a hurricane by Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Impacts could be felt in New England states by Sunday, including on Cape Cod, which is teeming with tens of thousands of summer tourists. (NOAA via AP)
According to Baker, "they'll be ready to assist with high-water rescues, debris clearing and public-safety support should it be necessary."
Although it is certainly rare for the area to have to deal with a tropical storm, Delaney said that he is confident that the locals of Cape Cod will know to take the storm seriously. While tropical systems may be uncommon, cases of severe weather occur frequently and the perils of bad weather have taught people to respect Mother Nature, he said.
"We always have a belief to plan for the worst and expect the best," he said.
And while it has been 30 years, part of the Delaney family's understanding of how to handle tropical storms dates back to their experience with Hurricane Bob.
That year, Bob made landfall in Rhode Island as a Category 2 hurricane on Aug. 19. Now, nearly exactly three decades later, Delaney's waterfront restaurant knows the conditions to prepare for.
FILE - In this Aug. 20, 1991, file photo, boat owners gather their belongings along the shore in Dartmouth, Mass., after Hurricane Bob swept through southern Massachusetts. New Englanders, bracing for their first direct hit by a hurricane in 30 years, are taking precautions as Tropical Storm Henri barrels toward the southern New England coast. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
"We’ve been monitoring the winds," he said, adding that the restaurant has already made the call once this summer to close due to high winds. "Coastal flooding is always another big concern of ours and making sure that if the storm is coming this way that we take the right precautions."
Despite the hardship that businesses and especially restaurants have endured over the past year due to COVID-19, Delaney said his biggest concern is for patrons and employees that would need to drive in the storm if they stayed open.
He said that while the industry is struggling "more than ever," this storm could be a blessing in disguise for keeping people home.
"[It's important] that they spend time with their loved ones during something as scary as a hurricane," he said. "We want people to be safe, we want people to be with their families and that, as a family business, is our biggest concern."
In popular tourist areas such as Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, multiple people told AccuWeather that Henri has forced an adjustment on their travel plans. For some, that means cutting the vacation short and catching an earlier flight home.
But for others, even that may already be too little, too late. As one Martha's Vineyard vacationer told AccuWeather, even if they wanted to get off the island right now, they wouldn't be able to. Reservations for ferry rides on or off the island had to be made months ago, and now it's almost impossible to get anything else.
While Delaney didn't say his restaurant had a clear-cut threshold of when they may make the decision to close operations for the storm, he said they were preparing for the worst, or as he said, "we’re planning for a hurricane, you know, not planning for a tropical storm."
"Unfortunately, as much as I hate to say it, the weather is out of our control," Delany said. "But what we can do is prepare and prep and make sure that the people that work here and the people that come and enjoy our restaurant are safe. So we’ll make the right decisions to keep those people safe."
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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