It was a storm the experts called a "bomb cyclone"  and it left in its wake a lot of destruction including one of Yarmouth's landmarks, the boardwalk at Bass Hole.

When the storm hit Jan. 4 the timing could not have been worse as it tore through Cape Cod's north side at the same time as an astronomical high tide, one of the highest of the year, and the results were devastating.

"The key to this was the presence of ice in Cape Cod Bay," said Karl von Hone, Yarmouth's Harbormaster and Director of Natural Resources. "The northeast winds hit at high tide. It pushed the ice in on top of the storm surge and that did the bulk of the damage to the boardwalk."

The boardwalk's end that projected out the farthest into the bay was torn free and pushed about half a mile east to Chase Garden Creek near the Dennis town line, where it sits encased in ice. It's likely to remain there for some time until prolonged moderate temperatures allow melting.

The power of the storm was such that it tore the end of the boardwalk free and moved it some distance despite the large cement block that anchored the boardwalk and was attached to the structure by steel cables. The cables twisted underneath the boardwalk and the platform was torn free.

Yarmouth's Director of Parks, Recreation and Cemeteries Patricia Armstrong said she had not yet completed a survey of damage to facilities, but she did confirm damage to pilings at Englewood Beach in West Yarmouth and at Colonial Acres Beach. She also said a pole that supported an osprey nest at Bass Hole was knocked down.

"The reality is that we can't fully evaluate what happened until the ice melts," Armstrong said.

Yarmouth Town Hall confirmed that the town is insured for such damage. but it is unclear if the boardwalk will be repaired in time for the summer season ahead. The boardwalk was immediately closed to visitors, although a steady stream of onlookers visited Gray's Beach/ Bass Hole after the storm to see and photograph the damage.

The damage to the boardwalk is the second loss of a recreational facility at Bass Hole/Gray's beach. Several years ago, an observation deck there was destroyed by fire and has not been replaced.

In neighboring Dennis, nothing quite as dramatic as the loss of a boardwalk was reported but Harbormaster Dawson Farber IV said Monday he had not yet made a complete inventory.

"A couple of pilings in the Bass River were damaged by ice floes, but there does not appear to be significant damage at Sesuit Harbor on the north side," Farber said. He added that he has not seen ice in Cape Cod Bay like the ice that caused damage last week in 10 to 15 years.

Two spots that are often hit hard by coastal storms, Dr. Botero Road and Corporation Beach on the north side in Dennis, did not sustain serious damage. Dennis Public Works Director David Johansen said he believes ice in the bay prevented serious damage despite the astronomically high tides.

The Mid-Cape for the most part escaped prolonged power outages during the storm. Outages were scattered among various neighborhoods. Dennis was for a time among the hardest hit areas. At one point, some 6,000 Dennis homes and businesses were without service.