The high winds and surf from Monday’s storm exacted a heavy toll on the Vineyard’s south shore, tearing several new breaches, eroding dunes and creating a sinkhole on Atlantic Drive in Edgartown.

The storm hit much of New England throughout the day, canceling almost all of the ferries and bringing wind gusts of more than 50 mph on the Vineyard. Eversource reported power outages throughout Monday in Chilmark, Tisbury, Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, and several towns experienced flooding.

But the damage along the Island’s southern beaches, caused by strong southerly winds and surging swells, was the most lasting, necessitating cleanups throughout the week and beyond.

Entrance to Norton Point.

Ray Ewing

Entrance to Norton Point.

Ray Ewing

“It wasn’t a named storm and [yet] it was the most significant damage we’ve had in a number of years,” said Edgartown town administrator James Hagerty.

The most immediate concern was the large sinkhole near the Winnetu path in the middle of Atlantic Drive in Edgartown, the road that runs parallel to South Beach. Waves crested the dunes of the beach, flowing onto the road and into the nearby low-lying areas, causing an approximately 15-foot wide hole to open near the edge of the roadway.

The town shut down the road Monday and it remained closed this week.

“It’s not going to be cheap to fix,” Mr. Hagerty said Tuesday morning. “We don’t know if we’ll need an engineer.”

Ocean breached the dunes at South Beach.

Ray Ewing

Ocean breached the dunes at South Beach.

Ray Ewing

Monday’s storm was different from a northeaster, the typical storm for New England in the winter. Instead of winds coming from the northeast, where the Island has more of a buffer, they came from the south, causing a direct hit along the unprotected sandy shoreline.

The National Weather Service said one of its buoys about 50 miles south of Nantucket recorded a 38-foot wave Monday — about a foot higher than Fenway Park’s famed “Green Monster.” Another buoy a little more than 20 miles southwest of the Vineyard recorded waves of just shy of 30 feet.

The Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory, an Edgartown-based observatory run by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, measured waves as tall as about 24 feet off South Beach.

The strong storm caused the ocean to break through several areas on the south shore. Breaches were reported on Norton Point in Edgartown, Long Point in West Tisbury and Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark.

Edgartown Yacht Club on Monday.

Tim Johnson

Edgartown Yacht Club on Monday.

Tim Johnson

On Chappaquiddick, the Trustees of Reservations said there was some severe erosion, though it wasn’t as bad as originally feared. Wasque took the biggest hit.

“There is literally no beach left because of the breach, so waves were eating away at the coast bluffs there,” said Mary Dettloff, a spokesperson for the Trustees.

Leland Beach and Cape Pogue also had severe damage, and Chappy beaches remained closed, according to the Trustees. A full assessment of Long Point hadn’t been conducted yet, but the ocean washed into Long Cove and waves were tearing away at the coastal dunes.

The strong winds and huge waves ate away large chunks at Lucy Vincent Beach, exposing rocks and hard clay, and potentially speeding up retreat schedules for homes now inching closer to the edge.

“We probably lost about 13 feet of beachfront,” said Martina Mastromonaco, the Chilmark beach superintendent. “It’s always changing, but we haven’t seen this much change in one storm in a long time.”

Ms. Mastromonaco guessed southerly winds and the considerable surf made the storm so destructive, with the ocean washing over in multiple places into the nearby ponds.

Clarissa Allen, a Chilmark beach committee member whose property overlooks the area, got a first-hand look at the damage.

“The ocean was pouring into the pond and it has risen significantly east of the cliff,” she said.

The beach could eventually resettle, but Lucy may have fewer places to place a beach blanket come summer.

“When you take a big hit like this, you lose a lot of beach to sit on,” Ms. Mastromonaco said.

A bench at the beach and other equipment are still missing, and several nearby homeowners lost stairs. Beachgoers throughout the week went out to take a look at the damage. Ms. Mastromonaco said many were devastated by the loss, and the fear that eventually the bluff at Lucy Vincent could become an island.

“I know you can’t stop it,” Ms. Mastromonaco said. “When the cliffs become an island, hopefully I’m retired.”

Squibnocket Beach also took a beating, wiping out sand to the edge of the parking lot pavement.

“It took away the sand that was there and now the parking lot just drops down,” Ms. Mastromonaco said.

Cleanup efforts in the towns are ongoing, and the Vineyard Conservation Society’s Beach BeFrienders group has called on people to help cleanup the debris that washed up.

In Edgartown, the parks department asked for a $10,000 reserve fund transfer to help with the cleanup around South Beach.

Mr. Hagerty said that cleanup was the first priority before looking into next steps. Edgartown restored some 400 feet of coastal dune at South Beach and Norton Point last year after a series of storms in 2018 accelerated the erosion at South Beach. That project was partially paid for with a $240,000 state grant.

Other parts of the Island weren’t hit as hard. Oak Bluffs fire chief Nelson Wirtz said several low-lying areas in town, including near the harbor, seawall and the hospital, had been flooded, and Five Corners in Vineyard Haven was inundated with water. But little damage was reported after the storm receded.

Mr. Wirtz leads the Dukes County Emergency Management Association and said power outages were fixed relatively quickly and the need never arose to open a shelter.

“We’re pretty much unscathed,” Mr. Wirtz said.