PORTLAND, Maine — 11p.m. Saturday Update: Hurricane Lee is no longer a major hurricane, but is still a threat to Maine and New England.
The last hurricane to directly strike Maine was hurricane Gerda in 1969. The storm landfalled in Machias (near Eastport) as a category 1 with at least sustained winds of 75 mph. It’s the strongest tropical system to ever make landfall in the Pine Tree State. However, the impacts were minimal because most of Maine was not in the northeast quadrant of the storm. That’s where the worst impacts are most of the time when talking about a tropical cyclone. Tropical storm Bob had much greater impacts to Maine, especially southern Maine due to its track coming over Block Island, Rhode Island as a hurricane previously.
Even Hurricane Lili indirectly devastated Maine despite being several hundred miles away from New England. Let’s discuss each storm in detail to see what we can learn.
Hurricane Gerda struck Florida and then moved north, staying just off the coast of the United States in early September of 1969. By the time it got to Maine it began to weaken after interacting with Cape Cod on September 9. Despite the cooler waters in the Gulf of Maine, Gerda maintained category 1 hurricane status and slammed into Downeast Maine on September 9. The interaction with a trough to the west raised the pressure of the storm quickly. This could also happen with Hurricane Lee next week (more on that later). Gerda’s impacts to Maine were not significant due to its forward speed and most of the northeast quadrant east of the mainland.
Hurricane Bob went over Block Island, Rhode Island on August 19, 1991. The storm then slammed into Rockland, Maine. The wind from Bob was recorded at 92-93 mph in Wiscasset before the instrument was blown away. Portland reported a gust to 70 mph. The 24 hr rainfall record was set with nearly 8 inches for an August day but was beaten out by extra-tropical Hurricane Lili soon after. Bob is the last hurricane to strike New England directly.
Hurricane Lili tracked several hundred miles away from New England and Maine, but indirectly had some of the worst impacts for any tropical system in history. It will be remembered as the flood of 1996-October. Southern Maine took the brunt of the storm as moisture well out ahead of Lili streamed northward into New England. This was from an area of low pressure that developed of the coast of VA indirectly associated with Lili. The high rainfall and storm surge flooded Portland to the point of shutting down clean water access to Maine’s largest city for 24 hours. The damage totaled more than 25 million for the Pine Tree state. You can read more about the survey here.
The flood of 1996 report by the USGS:
So, what does all this have to do with Hurricane Lee?
We don’t need a direct hit from Lee or any tropical system to have significant impacts in Maine. A trough of low pressure could help to keep Lee away from us or it could weaken the storm before it gets here. A track farther west would mean much more significant impacts on Maine.
Next week I will look back at Hurricanes, Irene, Sandy and Carol that all devastated New England.
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