On August 27, 2011, Hurricane Irene became the first hurricane in 20 years to hit the New England area. Here are photos and videos of this phenomenal storm.

Hurricane Irene formed on August 20, 2011, and its path headed close to Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. It rode the coastline of the US, not landing until it got up to North Carolina on August 27th. It skipped along the coast until it got to New York, and then it headed pretty much straight up the New York / CT border and up through Vermont.

While technically Irene was a tropical storm by the time it crossed the Massachusetts border, it was so massive and the pressure differential was so large that all forecasters were warning residents to treat it as a powerful hurricane. The MBTA was shut down.

It had begun raining in Sutton on Saturday August 27th, just around noon. Since the center of the storm was still down in North Carolina at the time, that gives some indication of how huge this thing was! The power was out by 9:30am on Sunday the 28th. The bulk of the storm hit Sutton MA betwewen 10am and 2pm. The rain then abruptly came to an end, although the winds remained high and only subsided gradually. These photos and videos were taken shortly after 2pm. The photo on the right is a tangle of trees, power lines, and a snapped telephone line at about 86 Lincoln Road.

We got power back on Monday, August 29th about 1pm, but many people in Sutton took days to get their power back.

Slideshow of Hurricane Irene Photos

Blackstone River Video:


Manchaug Waterfall Video:


Hurricanes in Massachusetts
Preparing for a Hurricane

Photos in Sutton Massachusetts