Coastal Flood — Southwest Suffolk, New York

2007-04-16 · Southwest Suffolk, New York

Event narrative

The storm caused over $26 million in damage in Suffolk County, including significant beach erosion, flooding, and harm to homes, businesses, and infrastructure.

Wider weather episode

A strong late season Nor'easter impacted the region with a prolonged period of moderate coastal flooding. The low orignated over the southern plains on Friday, April 13, and then reached the mid Atlantic coast Sunday morning, April 15. From there, it underwent rapid deepening and tracked northeast, reaching the waters off southern New England Sunday night. The combination of a strong high off the New England coast and a period of higher than normal spring tides resulted in several days of tidal piling across Atlantic facing beaches and Long Island Sound. The slow eastward movement of the low in the following days resulted in a prolonged period of long fetch easterly flow.

Tidal departures were highest on both the Atlantic back bays of western Long Island and western Long Island Sound from Sunday evening through Monday morning, ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 feet. Thereafter, there were fewer, more isolated flooding episodes through Thursday, April 19.

The moderarte coastal flooding at Kings Point, New York, resulted in a tide level of 11.57 feet (MLLW) at 10:36 p.m. on Sunday, April 15. This was comparable to tide levels during Hurricanes Gloria and Donna.

The storm caused over $26 million in damage in Suffolk County, including significant beach erosion, flooding, and harm to homes, businesses, and infrastructure.

Several days prior to this event, model storm surge forecasts were as high as 4.5 feet. For Atlantic facing shores, this would have been comparable to the October 1996 and the Halloween 1991 Nor'easters. For Long Island Sound, such a surge would have produced flooding approaching the level of the December 1992 Nor'easter. While these levels were not realized due to changes in the forecast track, this storm resulted in considerable damage to property with estimates into the millions of dollars.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 46214. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.