High tide and storm winds prompt evacuations, road closures along NH coast

Town and state officials are assessing damage to New Hampshire’s coastal towns after a storm that began on Friday night brought high winds, evacuations, and extensive flooding.

Emergency responders in Hampton Beach rescued 20 people from their homes due to flooding during high tide on Saturday, and officials say they were continuing to receive reports of home, vehicle, and road damage in the area. No serious injuries have been reported.

Rye Fire Chief Mark Cotreau said that parts of Ocean Blvd. in Rye are damaged and likely will remain closed for much of Sunday. Sea walls between the road and the beach have also been destroyed.

Cotreau attributed the flooding to high winds during an extremely high tide, and to infrastructure that had already sustained damage during Wednesday’s storm.

“Even with all the temporary repairs that were done – and there was plenty of it – it’s still a weakened system,” he said. “This was a strong tide, and that’s what we were up against.”

The storm brought significant damage to Maine coastal towns as well, with Portland recording a record high tide, wind gusts up to 60 mph, and flooding in the downtown area.

While there were a variety of factors at play in Saturday’s flooding, the latest national climate assessment indicates that, in general, intense rain and snow events are increasing throughout the country, and in the Northeast in particular, as humans continue to burn atmosphere-warming fossil fuels.

Extreme precipitation events have increased by about 60% in the Northeast since the 1950s, according to the assessment. And as the climate warms, more snow is expected to fall instead as rain.

Vanessa Palange, the community outreach coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, said that towns across the state saw power outages and road damage due to snow, rain, and strong winds. As of Saturday evening, about 11,000 Granite Staters remained without power.

Residents whose property was damaged during the storm are encouraged to report it to the state by calling 2-1-1. Updates on road closures can be found at New England 511 and town police and fire departments social media pages.

This is a developing story, and it will be updated.