Hurricane Irene 2011: Storm observations and impacts along the southern New England coast

摘要

The southern New England coastline including Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts was impacted at significantly different levels due to the storm's track over New York City and through western New England, but also due to the timing of the astronomical high tide and peak surge conditions. As shown by a geographi cally diverse set of data collection systems, and using two return period water level studies, Tropical Storm Irene ranked between a 1 -year storm and a 42-year storm, depending upon the location along the coast in New England. Additionally, several sources of wave data were looked at and at the open ocean buoy location south of Rhode Island, the peak storm wave height ranked as a 50-year wave event. Given the very large wave heights offshore and the varied water surface elevations, the impacts ranged from minor coastal flooding to significant beach erosion and property damage/loss along the coast.