SUPERSTORM SANDY: CHANGES TO THE RHODE ISLAND SHORE, WHAT NEXT?

Superstorm Sandy was a hybrid tropical/extratropical cyclone with peak storm surge of 1.62 meters above mean higher high water (MHHW) at Newport, RI and 1.98 m at New London, CT. Peak surge was preceded and followed by smaller surges in a typical extratropical pattern. Peak wind gusts did exceed 60 knots at Newport. The wind blew from the ESE onshore, but somewhat parallel, to the south shore of Rhode Island. A significant wave height of 9.4 meters was recorded at a USACE wave buoy in outer Rhode Island Sound with one wave topping 14.3 meters.

Significant damage to residential properties and state and municipal infrastructure occurred along the south shore of Rhode Island, increasing in general severity from east to west. Overwash generated washover fans that buried low-lying roads, parking lots and commercial properties under as much as 2.5 meters of sand. Run up of storm-surge inundated structures hundreds of meters inland situated on glacial alluvial fans. While damage to infrastructure in Rhode Island was relatively less when compared to New York and New Jersey, it was the most since Hurricane Carol in 1954.

Rhode Island presently is developing a plan to establish new setbacks, guide rebuilds and enforce present regulations on structures “grandfathered” from before the first RI Coastal Resources Management Plan in 1971.