Posted on August 26, 2021
PROVIDENCE — Apart from the loss of power in the southern half of the state, the damage from Tropical Storm Henri in Rhode Island may have seemed a little underwhelming.
But in Burlingame State Campground in Charlestown, not far from where the storm made landfall Sunday afternoon in Westerly, a trail of destruction was left in its wake.
The state Department of Environmental Management tallied about 150 trees that came down after the storm swept in with sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts approaching 70 mph.
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“As relieved as we are that Tropical Storm Henri did not have the severe impact on Rhode Island that we feared could happen, our properties took some knocks during the storm, especially with downed trees and limbs,” DEM acting director Terry Gray said.
Although none of the damage was as bad at other state parks and beaches, agency staff have been busy cleaning up debris and readying facilities for reopening.
Burlingame, however, isn’t set to open to the public again until Thursday at the earliest. Staff had taken down trees that were structurally compromised, but they had yet to clear out all of them. And though they had removed many broken limbs that were still stuck in trees and hanging over camp sites, they had yet to get to all of them.
“You’re going site by site to figure out, is that tree going to compromise somebody’s safety?” said DEM spokesman Michael Healey.
East Beach Campground, also in Charlestown, also won’t reopen before Thursday because it was still without power and because workers were still clearing a sand trail that cuts through the property.
The surge from Henri, which was smaller than expected, displaced some sand at state beaches, but crews were able to rake the sand back in place. Scarborough North, Roger Wheeler, Salty Brine and East Matunuck state beaches were all open on Tuesday. East Beach was too — though not the campground there.
Elsewhere along the south shore of the state, there was little to no erosion caused by the storm.
In a listserv on coastal erosion maintained by the University of Rhode Island, Bryan Oakley, a geoscientist at Eastern Connecticut State University, compared the impacts at Napatree Point in Westerly to a minor nor’easter. And J.P. Walsh, director of the Coastal Resources Center at URI, described the effects on dunes at Roy Carpenter’s Beach in South Kingstown, as minimal.
Both places suffered major damage during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Meanwhile, the repair of electric lines continued apace on Tuesday with National Grid bringing the total number of customers without power down to 6,600 as of 5 p.m.
The company said it was set to restore service to 95% of customers affected by the storm that day and was on track to bring everyone back on line on Wednesday.
The work included repairing downed wires, clearing tree limbs and other debris and fixing broken poles.
“Customers who remain without service as a result of the storm will have power restored hour-by-hour as crews continue the labor-intensive cleanup and restoration effort,” the company said.
