Coastal Flood — Coastal Rockingham, New Hampshire

2018-03-03 · Coastal Rockingham, New Hampshire

Event narrative

In Hampton, New Hampshire, major flooding occurred along the New Hampshire seacoast where up to 3 feet of water covered some roadways in the Back Bay area of Hampton. Route 1A was shut down at Wallis Sands Beach. Ocean Boulevard was also closed in Rye as large rocks, the size of beach balls, were tossed across the road during subsequent high tides. Many of the sea walls along Ocean Boulevard were undermined. The sea wall at North Beach in Hampton was badly compromised.

At Fort Point, water of a half foot to 1 foot deep occurred on Mechanic, Marcy and Ceres Streets in Portsmouth with many properties suffering damage during several tide cycles. The Piscataqua River rose until it reached the decks of water front restaurants. North Mill Pond overflowed onto neighboring streets and properties.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure developed off the New Jersey coast (981mb), on March 2nd before rapidly intensifying well offshore on March 3rd (974mb), producing hurricane force wind gusts in the Gulf of Maine. The storm then tracked in a loop and retrograded back towards the southern New England coastline. This occurred during the highest astronomical tide of the month, leading to moderate coastal flooding from Portland through York and Rockingham counties. As the system moved back offshore and became quasi-stationary, large, long period swells reached the coast for several consecutive tide cycles from March 3rd through the 5th and produced major beach erosion, splash-over and coastal inundation in local areas along the coast.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 746185. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.