The 6-foot storm surge coupled with a rising tide caused severe flooding on Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cape Cod, and many boats were lost in this region as well. Portions of eastern Massachusetts and nearly all of Cape Cod and the Islands lost power. All of eastern Massachusetts faced winds of 75-95 mph, with peak gusts on Martha's Vineyard of 120 mph. įollowing a track slightly to the east of Carol, Hurricane Edna barreled up the East Coast, passing over Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket on September 11. Throughout New England, 4,000 homes, 3,500 cars, and 3,000 boats succumbed to Carol, and most of eastern Massachusetts lost phone service and power. Rainfall of 2 to 5 inches spread across the region, and peaked in north central Massachusetts at 6 inches. New Bedford's storm surge was over 14 feet. Making landfall just after high tide, Carol's storm surge caused massive flooding, with the Somerset and New Bedford areas receiving the worst of it in Massachusetts. Strong winds caused devastation from eastern Connecticut to Cape Cod, ruining 40 percent of apple, corn, peach, and tomato crops.
Most of eastern Massachusetts saw sustained winds of 80 to 100 mph, toppling trees and miles of power lines. After several days of slow northward progress, Carol accelerated rapidly the evening of August 30, passing just to the east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and continuing toward eastern Long Island and southeastern Connecticut for an August 31 landfall. This double-whammy began at the end of August when Carol formed in the Bahamas. In this year, not one but two Category 3 hurricanes hit New England, Carol and Edna. Southern-facing shorelines experienced significant erosion, with some spots along Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket losing up to 50 feet of shoreline. Mattapoisett was also hit hard, with 29 of 37 homes destroyed on Cove Street and 32 of 35 homes destroyed on Angelica Point. Onset, Bourne, Mashpee, and Wareham saw the worst surge, 12 to 15 feet. The storm surge in Buzzards Bay was 10 to 15 feet, ripping boats from their moorings, destroying homes, and eroding large sections of coastline. Trees and utility poles were routinely damaged, and 60 percent of the residents of southeastern Massachusetts lost power. Brewster and North Truro experienced gusts of 125 mph, with North Truro enduring sustained winds of 100 mph. Most of southeast Massachusetts faced hurricane-force winds, with coastal communities in these areas seeing sustained winds of 75 to 100 mph. Overall, New England experienced $680 million in damage, $39 million in Massachusetts alone. The Category 3 storms from earlier in the century packed more of a punch, but the extensive coastal development in the second half of the 20 th Century left many more homes and other structures in the path of Bob's fury. Although this Category 2 hurricane was not among the worst in terms of wind speed or storm surge, the property damage totals alone secured a top-three spot for Hurricane Bob.
Developing in the central Bahamas on August 16, 1991, Hurricane Bob intensified and accelerated north-northeastward, paralleling the East Coast, and barreling into Block Island, Rhode Island, and later Massachusetts on August 19.
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