Tropical storm Henri was more manageable than forecasted when it barreled into Westerly, Rhode Island on Sunday. But downed trees and forceful winds are still damaging the final days of summer on the state’s coastline.
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses in Rhode Island lost power, particularly in seaside communities such as South Kingstown and Charlestown.
“South Kingstown remains in an emergency management stage,” said Theresa Murphy, interim town manager for South Kingstown. “We are anxious to get our residents and our small businesses back up and running.”
Murphy said the town has three weeks left to the summer, which is a pivotal time for the area’s small businesses that rely on a strong tourism economy.
“This has added insult to injury over the last year due to COVID. This tropical storm has added to that,” she said. “We are urging National Grid to do what they can to get us back online with power and get back to normal here.”
By the end of the day Monday, many of those outages had not yet been restored.
Governor Daniel McKee said he wants to investigate why Rhode Island “consistently” loses more power than Massachusetts by at least 20 times. More than 70,000 National Grid customers lost power in Rhode Island compared to 6,700 customers in Massachusetts.
“This isn’t the first time,” said McKee. “I think it’s [because of] infrastructure.”
Henri made its final pass across the region Monday, downgraded as a tropical depression, which brought a last push of heavy rain. Heavily wooded inland towns suffered.
Richmond Police Chief Elwood Johnson said the department received 60 calls for downed trees and wires in a two-hour span. The 40-square-mile town has large oak trees that are covered in foliage or damage from gypsy moths, which made them vulnerable to Henri’s high winds.
Some of those trees hit roofs or outbuildings and cars, but “most homes appear to be intact with relatively minor damage.”
In Hopkinton, 20 trees hit wires, and there were 14 roads that were impassable, Police Chief David Palmer. The police department itself is on a generator, Palmer said.
A tree in Westerly collapsed on a house on Monday as showers rolled in, more than 24 hours after Henri landed in the town.
A navigational buoy that typically sits about two nautical miles off the coast of Block Island broke free from its chain during the storm and floated to the mainland. It washed ashore Monday afternoon along Roy Carpenter’s Beach in South Kingstown. The buoy, which had to travel a few miles in the storm’s strong currents, is typically used to help direct ships coming from the west. The Coast Guard put out a notice to mariners, informing them of the wayward buoy and how to otherwise navigate through the sea.
At the start of the day Monday, when the sun was shining and state parks, beaches, and campgrounds could have become a places of solace for those without power, they instead remained closed.
Crews cleaned debris, raking and smoothing out sand, and assessed damages. East Matunuck State Beach in South Kingstown and the Charlestown Breachway are without power, and will not be able to reopen until that power is restored as temperatures are expected to reach the 90s this week. All campgrounds must remain closed through at least Wednesday. Others may not open until this weekend due to extensive tree damage.
Beavertail State Park in Jamestown remained closed on Monday due to high surf — a reminder of what could have been if Henri made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane as anticipated, where storm surges could have swept through and blurred the state’s coastline.
McKee said the state is “lucky” that Henri came when it did during low tide, and was not the Category 1 hurricane it was predicted to be.
“We could have gone to a hurricane 2. It could have come during high-tide. And then it would have been another [hurricane] Sandy,” said McKee. “At this point in time, people are safe.”
Brian Amaral of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexagagosz.
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Damage from storm Henri has lasting effect on R.I. coastline - The Boston Globe
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