Looking Back: Hurricane Irene In Chatham

CHATHAM, NJ - As Hurricane Dorian barrels its way toward Florida heading into the Labor Day weekend it is hard for New Jersey residents not to be reminded of the Labor Day weekend storm that ravaged the region back in 2011.

Hurricane Irene was the first of several superstorms that plagued New Jersey causing widespread flooding and massive power outages. Hurricane Irene would have been the first hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey in more than a century, had it actually been packing hurricane-strength winds at the time.

But by the time Irene rolled ashore at Little Egg Inlet in southern Ocean County, its wind speed had already decreased to 69 m.p.h. – a full 5 m.p.h. short of hurricane strength – meaning it was actually just a tropical storm.

Despite the findings, Irene caused significant damage in the Chathams, including across Main Street and other roads. One of the trees fallen fell between two houses.

The findings were released by the National Hurricane Center, the latest of equivalent post-mortems the agency has posted on every other storm of the 2011 hurricane season. Every year, the hurricane center releases "tropical cyclone reports" on each named storm after hurricane season ends Nov. 30.

The report said a storm surge of 3 to 5 feet along the state's shoreline caused moderate to severe tidal flooding with extensive beach erosion, but not surprisingly, the bulk of the damage caused by Irene was in the northern counties due to river flooding.

"The most severe impact of Irene in the northeastern United States was catastrophic inland flooding in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont," the report stated.

This post contains reporting by Daniel Nee.

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