Hurricane Bob (1991)

Bob tracked parallel to the mid-Atlantic coast toward New England. Its eye crossed Block Island, Rhode Island, at 1:20 p.m. EDT on August 19, 1991, then moved over Newport near 2 p.m. EDT as a Category 2 hurricane.¹ NHC's best track gives 90-knot (104 mph) winds and a 962 mb central pressure at Block Island, and 85-knot (98 mph) winds and 964 mb at the Newport landfall.² The center crossed Rhode Island and Massachusetts and made a final landfall as a tropical storm near Rockland, Maine, at 9:30 p.m. EDT.¹

The highest surge came where wind pushed water into Buzzards and Narragansett bays. High water marks at the head of Buzzards Bay ran 8.5 to 15.3 feet, and surge was 5.8 feet at Woods Hole and at the New Bedford hurricane barrier.³ In Rhode Island, high water marks near Sakonnet Point reached 10.2 to 16.5 feet with waves, and the Providence hurricane barrier gauge recorded a 6.5-foot surge.³ NWS Boston lists gusts of 125 mph in Brewster and North Truro on Cape Cod, where North Truro also had the highest sustained wind, 100 mph. Block Island reported a 91-knot (105 mph) gust, at the upper limit of its equipment.^4,5 On Cove Road in Mattapoisett, 29 of 37 homes were destroyed, and 32 of 35 shoreline homes were lost at Angelica Point.⁴

NHC estimated Bob's total damage at $1.5 billion and counted 17 deaths, including 6 in Connecticut.³