Chasing Sandy (away), Day 3

 My third day chronicling Hurricane Sandy. More, as always, at The Providence Journal.

[For Sunday and Monday pre- and during-Sandy photos, click here.
[For Thursday's Day Four adventure, including interior photos of Carpenter's Beach cottages and buildings, click here.]

A full moon was peeking through swirling storm clouds outside.

 

Arrived at East Matunuck Beach, South Kingstown, around 6 a.m., in the pre-dawn darkness.

Overnight, the sea flooded the parking lot with sand. The pavillion, new this year, appeared undamaged.

Another view of the parking lot. I was standing on the pavllion. Nothing like my last time there, at the height of the swimming season in August! There was still beach there then...

On my way to the famed Ocean Mist bar in Matunuck, passed a submerged mobile home park.

Crews had removed feet of sand that had blocked the road in the Monday evening high tide surge.

Amazingly, the Ocean Mist, built on piles, survived with minimal damage. "Someone said the piles go straight to hell and the devil's hanging on!" owner Kevin Finnegan joked to me.

But a few doors down, a private cottage wasn't so lucky.

Neither was this cottage at nearby Carpenter's Beach.

Nor the one next to it.

Debris was all over Carpenter's Beach, which the storm had shrunk to almost nothing. Longtime summer people remember a beach 500 feet deep...

Incredibly, a rainbow at Carpenter's just before high tide.

Heading west from Carpenter's to the "First Lady," one of the grand old cottages.

For comparison photos, see my earlier blog.

The First Lady has lost all of its sand and berm protection, and is being lashed by the waves. It tilts now seaward.

A temporary reprieve from the waves shows the building as an island. Two other "ladies" were damaged, too, but the water was too treacherous for me to get close.

At this point, afraid of being trapped, I headed back at a brisk run.

I tried but could not get to Misquamicut, where damage was reported severe. R.I. National Guard troops here muster at the Westerly Police Station for duty assisting national Grid and protecting property from looters.

And folks, this is Rhode Island. This Dunkin' Donuts in Westerly (probably one of about 234 in Westerly alone!) had power. Line out the door and cars backing up traffic in the street.