Flooding at Hampton Beach on Seacoast: Shelter set up in Hampton

High tides brought flooding and closed roads to beach areas in Hampton, North Hampton, Seabrook, Rye and New Castle Wednesday morning following a rain and wind storm.

Seacoast New Hampshire and southern York County in Maine were largely spared the worst impact of the storm, but that was not the case for those closest to the coastline. Hampton has opened an evacuation shelter for flooding victims at Hampton Academy.

"This was supposed to be 11.7-foot tide this morning," Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno said. "It ended up being 13.83."

Hampton police closed access routes to Hampton Beach on Wednesday morning due to severe flooding from the storm and wind-driven tides, according to Reno.

Reno said officials were concerned about what the next high tide will bring because of the unexpected severity of the morning tide.

With the extent of the flooding throughout beach roads that has surrounded homes and buildings, Reno said, police are not letting the public through to the beach area in hopes they heed the warning and stays away as emergency responders deal with the situation.

"Ocean Boulevard is flooded and it isn't even high tide yet," Reno said at 9:30 a.m.

Police closed Ocean Boulevard from North Hampton to Seabrook, as well as Route 101 from Landing Road, Reno said. Reno asked the public at the beach to leave and others to stay away as first responders deal with the situation.

Seabrook police closed Route 286 westbound due to flooding at the intersection with Route 1A at the gas station ND Dunkin Donuts, according to Lt. Tim Mone. Cross Beach Road and River Street are also closed due to flooding, he said.

New Castle's police and fire departments announced road closures on the island town of less than 1 square mile as well. Wentworth Road (Route 1B) between New Castle and Rye was closed amid high tides and storm surge on the roadway, the departments stated.

Worst of storm didn't hit Seacoast NH and Maine

The storm packing high winds and heavy rain was sweeping through the Northeast early Wednesday, while wild winter weather elsewhere brought tornadoes and deadly accidents in the Midwest and South, flood threats in Florida and blizzards in the Northwest.

The local area in New Hampshire and Maine, aside from the coastline, didn't see as much impact, National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Clair said.

"The worst has pretty much happened," Clair said early Wednesday morning. "The strongest gusts have already gone through. We are on a downward trend overall."

The National Weather Service forecast called for rain ending in the morning in areas around Portsmouth, Exeter, Hampton, Dover, Rochester, Kittery, York and Kennebunk.

Winds gusts of up to 50 mph on the coast were still possible, and flooding was expected at high tide, Clair said. Less than a half inch more of rain was expected. The rain and temperatures in the 40s and 50s today and through much of the week is expected to bring rapid melting of the foot or so of snow much of the local area received Sunday.

The NWS high wind warning remains in effect until 1 p.m. with a flood watch until 4 p.m.

"The wind is dying down, but we've seen a lot of rain and snow is still melting," Clair said.

How many inches of snow did we get?: NH and Maine totals from Jan. 7, 2024 listed here

Power outages mostly in north, but Kennebunk takes a hit in Maine

In New Hampshire and Maine, the biggest impact in terms of power outages was in northern areas, according to Clair.

North of the White Mountains is seeing power outages from winds. And heavy, wet snow caused power outages south of the (White Mountains), into the Lakes Region," Clair said. "Especially Carroll County."

Eversource and Unitil were reporting only scattered outages around the rest of New Hampshire. Early Wednesday morning, Central Maine Power reported more than 500 outages in Kennebunk, as well as a few dozen in Eliot.

Schools largely remained open locally though York, Maine, schools had a two-hour delay.

Donut Love is growing: Local favorite opening a new location in Seacoast area

Angeljean Chiaramida contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Flooding at Hampton Beach as rain and storm hit Seacoast NH, Maine