Cleanup continues on the South Shore as another storm moves in

March 12--MARSHFIELD -- Sunday marked the first day in more than a week that John O'Sullivan and his neighbors saw pavement on Plymouth Avenue, which straddles the border of Marshfield and Duxbury.

It took crews days to pump out the ocean water, which O'Sullivan said crashes over the seawall, travels down Bay Avenue and "seeks the path of least resistance" down neighboring streets.

"We're trying to keep busy and have a few laughs," O'Sullivan, of Duxbury, said, while he and a neighbor took a break from shoveling debris from the street to tie a large stuffed doll to a street sign.

Coastal residents took advantage of sunshine and mild temperatures on Sunday and continued to clean up from the March 2 storm that caused devastating flooding, strong winds and thousands of power outages. Forecasters say the third nor'easter in less than two weeks will hit Tuesday, bringing between 6 inches and a foot of snow and high winds.

The National Weather Service reports that the risk for coastal flooding is expected to be lower than the previous nor'easters, which swamped many seaside towns.

"We can deal with snow," O'Sullivan said. "It's the flooding that causes issues."

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and a handful of other agencies teamed up during the weekend to offer resource recovery centers in Quincy and Marshfield, where residents impacted by the storms could go for information on services available to them.

More than 50 families turned out for help at Martinson Elementary School in Marshfield on Saturday. Shawn Curran, a site director with the American Red Cross, said the center provided clean up kits, information on disaster and transitional services, vouchers for food and furniture from the Salvation Army, and other aid.

"It's not earth-shattering assistance, but we are here to coordinate and help put people in touch with the right agencies," he said.

Curran said the Red Cross also had assessment teams going door-to-door on the South Shore, to note damage and reach out to those who need assistance. He said that it helps for the Red Cross to already have the damage documented if the storm ends up qualifying as a federal disaster. While the Red Cross workers hope the South Shore has seen the worst of it, Curran said the agency is keeping its volunteers and resources in place until the expected nor'easter passes.

Marianne Pierce, a planner with MEMA, said most people she spoke with requested help with navigating insurance and storm cleanup.

In Brant Rock, Joan Read spent Sunday raking up and shoveling the sand and rocks that waves dumped on her front lawn on Ocean Street. She said the flooding lasted for 10 high tides, so she feels lucky that she and her husband only lost their front gate and a portion of their stone wall where the sidewalk gave way.

Read said neighbors come together to help out after a storm and the town employees have done a great job with cleanup so fa,r following the worst flooding since the No Name storm in 1991.

"You meet so many nice people when everyone is having a hard time," she said.

Across the street, Diane Maturo's family helped her remove some furniture from her seaside summer home. The two homes directly next to Maturo's were destroyed when the seawall breached, exposing the dwellings to pounding waves that crashed through the structures.

"I'm not saying I didn't have any damage at all, but I'm very fortunate," said Maturo, whose house was built on tall pilings after it was badly damaged by a storm in the early 1990s.

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