Multiple Authors Article
In 2015 the pavilion at South Kingstown Town Beach had to be moved back 300 feet because of the beating it was taking being so close to the shore. Image courtesy of Town of South Kingstown.
As increasingly frequent and intense storms batter the Ocean State’s weary coast, the consequences, such as eroding beaches, flooded homes, compromised public streets and threatened infrastructure, become more common. While efforts to mitigate these impacts are underway along Rhode Island’s 400-plus miles of coastline, municipalities must balance loss with timing and limited money.
Twenty-one major natural disasters between 1938 and 2015, including the “Great New England Hurricane” of 83 years ago, punished this Washington County coastal community, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Significant storm events hit Washington County often referred to locally as South County once every 5.75 years, according to a 2018 re