Community Corner
Irene's Potential Impact on Westport
The hurricane temporarily stalled over North Carolina, which could help Westport.
Currently, the storm is a category 1 storm, and it has temporarily stalled over North Carolina. It is expected to begin to move to the northeast later today, and the path looks like it will be such that the eye moves extremely close to Westport.
The stalling storm may, in fact, help Westport though, as right now the eye is supposed to move over Westport around 1 p.m. tomorrow. High tide is at 11 a.m., and with the eye close and closing in then, we could get horrible storm surge.
However, if the storm stalled an additional couple hours, we could be spared the worst of the storm surge as the eye would take longer to get up to us. We will see whether the storm continues stalling or if it will begin to pick up speed soon and move towards us.
Find out what's happening in Westportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
What I have seen that has been emphasized and what is really good is that the category of this hurricane doesn't matter. Whether it is a category one, which I expect, or a strong tropical storm, we can still expect 8-12 inches of rain, and wind gusts into the 80 mph range. The rain will loosen up the soil, making it easier for trees to topple, which is why power outages will be such a large problem.
Meanwhile, storm surge looks like it will be 4-8 feet right now, which is why I expect widespread coastal flooding worse than we have seen in the past few decades.
Find out what's happening in Westportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The storm is a slow mover, and it will have enough time to pull up a lot of water. Along with that, if the eye passes to our west, we will get south easterly winds, which will also blow the water onshore as well. The storm looks like it will wind down Sunday afternoon though, and the winds should wind down to near calm by Sunday evening.
The worst of the winds will likely come around six hours after the worst rain, as we may catch the eye wall which would have gusts to 85 mph or greater. That is my biggest fear, as that would down many trees combined with the heaviest rain. I will begin to analyze the radar as the storm moves closer and figure out exactly where the eye will move, but I will keep you updated on the latest.
