Allan Appel Photo
When Hurricane Irene struck two years ago, she badly damaged fencing at panoramic Criscuolo Park in Fair Haven and destroyed protective rip-rap all along the section of shoreline that extends deepest into the harbor.
All that has finally just now been repaired, and with stones big enough to say to the next storm: Try to move this.
The project was undertaken not only to repair damage done from the hurricane, but also to prepare for the next one, according to city Landscape Architect David Moser.
The new stones have been placed by the fishing pier at the tip of the wedge-shaped park and also along the margin of the river as it meets the Chapel Street Bridge.
Moser described the new rip-rap, embankments of rocks used to fortify shorelines, as cumulatively 335 feet long by 15 feet wide.
Rip-rap works by absorbing the power of waves, so the destructive energy is dissipated before it washes away the land or whacks the defended structures behind it.
The project is being paid for out of city capital funds, but a portion of it may be eligible for reimbursement from FEMA, Moser wrote in an email.
About 90 feet of chain link fence has also been installed, replacing the sections that were bent and warped by the waves.
The project is complete except for the seeding of lawn areas, where the stones heavily resided before placement. That’s going to be done in September when the weather cools down, Moser said.