Tidal gate causes flood of problems in Revere

REVERE – A tidal gate that malfunctioned and opened on Nov. 29, flooding lower Revere Street homes, will remain closed until January when Public Works Superintendent Donald Goodwin hopes it will be repaired.”The door is jamming – we don’t know why,” said Goodwin.Goodwin estimated “a couple of hundred” residents on Ellerton, Arcadia, Shawmut and other low-lying streets awoke on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to find water in their cellars. He said a mechanical failure caused the gate, located by the railroad tracks paralleling North Shore Road, to operate improperly.”There was a lot of damage done by the flooding. People were very upset to be awakened at 3 or 4 a.m. with water in their cellars,” said Ward 5 City Council John Powers.The gate is currently closed and will remain closed to prevent flooding until it can be repaired. Powers said the gate is designed to close when ocean tides are high and open at low tide to allow stormwater to flow out.Installed almost 10 years ago, the tidal gate is not primarily a flooding-prevention mechanism. Goodwin said its primary purpose is to open and close to allow ocean water to restore vegetation in the marsh off North Shore Road.”It’s not that old; it should not be malfunctioning: It caused a lot of inconvenience and annoyance,” Powers said.