Along the coast of Duxbury, Massachusetts, an estimated 100 homes are at risk during Wednesday's storm.
After last week's nor'easter, waves left seawalls battered and broken.
The ocean is inching closer to Susan Nichols' dream home. Her seawall was breached Monday afternoon.
"I couldn't believe it," said Nichols. "It was just surreal."
Nichols and her neighbors are paying out of pocket for their wall to be temporarily fixed.
Large boulders are being dropped on their property to prevent further erosion.
Town Manager Rene Read calls it a "short-term solution."
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"The longer-term solution will wind up being complete restoration of the seawall system," said Read. "There is no question."
A half mile away, a "voluntary evacuation" has been ordered. The water there is still several feet deep.
The town is looking to bring in pumps to get the water out by Friday.
"Biggest problem going forward, right now in the short term, is the short amount of time we have on the beach to work," said Duxbury DPW Director Pete Buttkus.
In Scituate, the U.S. Geological Survey had teams walking through town measuring how high the water rose. They were looking for water marks on buildings or telephones.
It's a race to get this done before the next storm hits, or else all of the information they can learn from is gone.
"Hopefully, it helps the residents understand whether they need to raise their home or what they might need to do in the future," said Gardner Bent, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Measurements can be used by towns when they plan for future storms, including which roads they need to close and areas that need to be restored.
