[wavehunter007]

MIsqumicut Beach is located on the Connecticut/Rhode island state line (but in RI). However, for many of you this is Connecticut's beach; Ten's of thousands of Connecticut residents visit each year from May through October. Some of you (who know the area) of course will find the pictures much more dramtic than others.

A few days after Sandy I tried to get down Atlantic Avenue to Westerly State Beach along the Rhode Island/Connecticut state line - but both State Police and Army guards were blocking all the entrances. I tried again a few days later, and again police/army had it closed off. Finally, this past Sunday they let people back down to the beach. Atlantic Avenue faces the open sea (the next land to the south is the bahamas 1000 miles away!). I took the camera not really knowing what to expect…but what I saw was beyond belief:


First thing I saw was that massive bulldozers were pushing beach sand to the side of the road. The sand at the base of people's driveway was 6 feet deep:






This is the main lifeguard station at Westerly State Beach last year one warm April day, you can see there was 100 feet of grassy dunes in front of the raised building:







Same main lifeguard building, only a close up...Hurricane Sandy swept 20 foot dunes across coastal highway and into marsh 1/3 mile away!!. The force of the waves eroded the sand right to the base of the Lifeguard tower.






The telephone pole you see in the center of the picture was enclosed by 15 to 20 foot dunes before Sandy...now there gone:






Incredibly, what you’re looking at used to be the edge of the parking lot - there were 20 foot high dunes in front of that parking lot!! (you can just make out the edge of the blacktop)…the force of the waves swept away 20 foot high dunes (and bent the parking signs):






Here are some pictures I took in the off season a few years back of the parking area of Westerly State Beach - you can see the parking lot and the 20 foot high dunes in the distance:








Now this is the same parking lot 1 week after Hurricane Sandy. Parking lot covered with sand 3 feet deep and debris everywhere, dunes breached and swept away in several areas (you can just make out peak of main lifeguard tower). Your looking at a parking lot!!:








This is the part of Atlantic Avenue that has all the food, rides, changing stations...etc.....much of it wiped out in Hurricane Sandy:








The hurricane storm surge blew out the back of many buildings, flipped mobile homes, and pulled the walls off buildings:








It will be along time before Connecticut's favoritve beach looks the same...

[Stylo]

Sure ain't my favorite beach. But wow, that is awful.

[KaoCT]

Ugh, this is terrible. It was my favorite beach when I was a kid, probably because it was the first beach my parents took us to that had big waves.

[wavehunter007]

Originally Posted by KaoCT

Ugh, this is terrible. It was my favorite beach when I was a kid, probably because it was the first beach my parents took us to that had big waves.

That's kind of the way it was for me as well.

I used to see those 2 foot waves on the Connecticut coast - then one day my father said there was a storm coming and we should go "out to the coast" and see the waves. I was a bit confused in that I didn't know what he was talking about (we lived on the coast I thought - lol), then when I got down there and saw 15 - 20 foot waves I realized I had never really been on the ocean until that point - lol.

Sad though, but they have 5 months to fix things up.

[Stylo]

We just had 15' foot waves in CT.

[adamz]

I was saddened when I thought to check on what happened to Misquamicut a few days after Sandy and saw the damage that had occurred. I've enjoyed many a Shark Tank at Paddy's, and hope that I will again in the future. One piece of good news is that it looks like the State Beach buildings came through largely unscathed.

[goldenage1]

Thank you for the photos. I am saddened that the damage was so bad. I also went to Misquamicut as a kid.

[western mass and love it]

WOW, hopefully they can restore it back to something close to what it once was. One of my families favorite beaches.

[CTGirlNoMore]

Wow, that's just sad

[mlassoff]

Not my favorite beach, but several good childhood memories there. Sad to see the damage.