Hard to believe but 5 years have passed since Hurricane Irene devestated the East Coast of the United States. The hurricane made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina before cutting through the Northeast and New England eventually dissipating over eastern Canada. Unfortunately, a total of 56 people were killed and the storm caused over 15 billion dollars in damage in the U.S making Irene one of the top 10 costliest hurricanes in United States history..
Irene was a "typical" Cape Verde storm, meaning it emerged off the West Coast of Africa as just a disorganized area of thunderstorms on August 15th, 2011. It then strengthened as it traveled west across the very warm Atlantic Ocean waters. It first became a tropical storm near the Lesser Antilles islands on August 20th, before becoming a hurricane while over Puerto Rico on August 21st. Irene continued to strengthen and peaked as a Category 3 hurricane (winds of 111 - 129 mph on the Saffir-Simpson scale) on August 24th near the Bahamas. The hurricane then weakened somewhat before making its first U.S. landfall on August 27th, 2011 at Cape Lookout, NC with 85 mph winds (Category 1). While the wind caused issues, torrential rain (10-15 inches worth) fell across parts of eastern NC causing devastating floods. The storm then moved almost due north making a second U.S. landfall as a 70 mph tropical storm in Little Egg Inlet, NJ on August 28th before its third and final landfall about 4 hours later in Coney Island, NY with sustained winds of 65 mph. The remnants of Irene then continued to push through New England before dissipating into an extra-tropical system on the 29th.
Undoubtedly, it was Irene's incredible heavy rain that made the storm so historic and since the storm occurred on the heels of an already record wet August in the Northeast, the flooding was just that much worse. When Irene's fury dumped widespread 5 - 12 inches across eastern Maryland and Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, nearly every river reached major flood stage (some reaching historic crest levels), engulfing many nearby towns in flood waters with the strong river currents destroying roads in the process. In addition to numerous governors declaring state of emergencies, it was the first time in history Atlantic City, NJ was evacuated.
Even after Irene made its final landfall in New York and started to weaken, its slow northward movement led to more historic flooding over New England. 5 - 8 inches (locally higher) of rain fell along the I - 87 corridor creating record river flooding and devastating numerous bridges. Some rural communities became isolated due to the number of bridge collapses. Here is a look at the total precipitation that fell with Irene, while the yellow line was the track of the storm.
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Because of the casualties and widespread damage due to the hurricane, the name Irene was retired by the World Meteorological Organization and won't be used again for an Atlantic named storm. Irene was replaced with Irma for the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. While Hurricane Irene caused so much destruction, unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy impacted many of the same areas around the Northeast (especially the Jersey Shore) just one year later.
