Lee's effect in Seacoast NH, Maine: Waves, wind and unusual beach day

The effects of Hurricane Lee, downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone Saturday, were less severe than feared in Seacoast New Hampshire and southern Maine.

There was no flooding at Hampton Beach at high tide around 1 p.m. and tropical storm warnings for New Hampshire's coastline were dropped by mid-day. The warnings remained in place in Maine, according to the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. Winds reached 44 mph in Kittery, Maine, according to meteorologist Sarah Thunberg.

"It’s like surfing in Hawaii": NH surfers are making the most of Hurricane Lee’s waves

Beachgoers who gathered in Hampton to watch the expected high waves took milder than expected weather as a pleasant surprise.

“It’s the best storm day. It’s not even raining,” Denise Leo said near the Seashell Stage shortly before high tide.

Marc and Pauline Aube, who were camping nearby, said they were glad their visit wasn’t ruined by the storm. Like many others on the beach, they enjoyed the crashing waves.

“Actually, I’m kind of satisfied,” Marc Aube said. “I’m glad it wasn’t as bad as it should have been.”

Many beach businesses enjoyed plenty of traffic with some wind but otherwise pleasant conditions. Some closed to brace for the weather, but the Sea Ketch, Boardwalk Cafe and Blink’s Fry Doe were all serving customers.

Hampton’s fire and police chiefs expected no flooding at high tide. Fire Chief Mike McMahon said the concern was flooding from the marsh behind the beach, but he said the winds from the west prevented that.

Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno said they initially expected up to 14-foot high tide. The actual height was between 8 and 9 feet according to tide watch sites like tideschart.com.

Waves were about 4 to 5 feet high, according to Hampton Beach lifeguard Chief Patrick Murphy. He said the last time the beach saw unusually large waves in the summer was in 2009 when Hurricane Bill hit.

Surfers were out in force in Hampton, however, enjoying the waves at North Beach.

Anne Olasz, who visited the beach from Merrimack, said the hype around Hurricane Lee was understandable.

“Weather is unpredictable,” Olasz said. “They tried their best.”

An offshore buoy east of New Hampshire was reporting the top third of the waves are averaging 13.8 feet at mid-day.  Further offshore, about 78 nautical miles northeast of Portsmouth, the buoy is reporting wave heights are 20.3 feet.

Smashing good time for Kennebunk Beach visitors

Kim Pelczar and her husband, Rich, arrived at Kennebunk Beach on Saturday, Sept. 16, to get a good look at the ocean waves whipped up by the effects of Hurricane Lee.

They got a good look, all right.

Kim opened the door on the passenger side of their Jeep Liberty and began to step onto the curb of Beach Avenue when a giant wave smashed into the seawall mere feet away and doused her with salt water.

The wave spilled so forcefully over the wall that it cascaded over the top of the Jeep and onto the street on the other side. A puddle pooled in the footwell of the vehicle.

As she held her ball cap, which was drenched, Kim summed up the surprise with a single word.“Soaked,” she said.

But make no mistake, the Pelczars, of Connecticut, were at the beach to have fun. As a reporter snapped photos of them, they stood facing the sea, waiting for another big one to come along and douse them all over again.

“We love it,” Rich said.

“It’s awesome,” Kim added.

The Pelczars were not alone in their quest for good times and wonder. Beach Avenue was lined with people watching the waves, taking photos and videos, and whooping with excitement whenever the ocean hit the seawall and sent plumes of spray exploding into the air.

One little girl, soaked head to toe by one of those sprays, kept the good times coming by jumping into the inches-thick puddles of water alongside the sidewalk.

Storm watchers gathered with high anticipation

In Hampton, Evan Marino and Joe Evans were at North Beach around 10 a.m. watching waves they say were still good to surf. Earlier this week, local surfers said they expected conditions to worsen Saturday.

“Today was nicer than yesterday,” said Marino, who was preparing to go surfing that morning. “Much better than we thought it would be. Much smaller waves, more manageable.”

High tide is at approximately 1 p.m. Hampton Fire Chief Mike McMahon said the high waters are not expected to disrupt the beach much, given the storm has moved further east.

“Once we saw that track, we expected that it would be less impactful here,” McMahon said.

The storm impacted some tourism activities at the beach. The Hampton Beach Village District’s scheduled fire show was canceled because of the storm, according to HBVD Commissioner Chuck Rage.

Others on the beach remained on schedule as the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom and Wally’s Pub were going forward with their live shows that night. Bars were also open, like the L Street Tavern, which planned a celebration of life that night.

Rage, who owns the Pelham Resort, said he lost some bookings to the weather but made them up with tourists eager to enjoy the storm.

Watch live: Here are web cams from Hampton Beach, Rye and southern Maine beaches

Robin Hart was visiting with her husband from Connecticut and said they planned to watch the waves. They were excitedly calling Hampton Beach “Hurricane Beach” as they prepared for their trip.

“Originally, I was coming because it was going to be a beautiful weekend,” Hart said. “But then, when there’s a hurricane coming, I was gonna be happy to see some big waves and a little bit of scariness.”

Swimmers warned: Hampton Beach lifeguards warn of 'flash' rip currents and high waves from Hurricane Lee

Wells Beach draws storm-watching crowd

WELLS, Maine — Scott Lauren and Mike Murray stood on the jetty at Wells Beach, watching the roiling Atlantic Ocean as their windbreakers rippled in the rising gales.

“And we’re still 2 1/2 hours from high tide,” said Murray, of Lowell, Massachusetts.

“Yeah,” said Lauren, of Goffstown, New Hampshire. “I don’t think there will be as many people here.”

But that would be later on. By mid-morning on Saturday, as winds hit 20 mph, hordes of beachgoers, clad in sweatshirts and windbreakers, reported to Wells Beach to welcome Hurricane Lee, despite safety warnings, especially about jetties.

Some enjoyed the views from the jetty at one end of Atlantic Avenue, while others sat on benches and stood along the chain-link fence at the balcony near Forbes Restaurant at the other end. Some people brought their dogs, some of whom whose floppy ears rose with the breeze.

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“I really love it,” said Connie Rogers, of Westford, Massachusetts, as she sat on a bench with her husband, Bill, and watched the waves roll and crash before her. “We’ll stay here for a while.”

In between, people also walked on the remaining dry stretches of the beach, which were expected soon to disappear underwater.

At the jetty, Lauren and Murray continued to watch as the choppy sea began to rise against the rocks and occasionally spray them.

“Mother Nature is incredible,” Lauren said.

And, as noon approached, she was just getting started.

Seacoast NH, Maine officials braced for mid-day high winds and tides

Rye Fire Chief Mark Coutreau said around 9 a.m. Saturday that crews in town began preparing on Friday.

“We have worked with the state for the beaches," he said. “We have not closed any roads yet, but we have pre-staged barriers in low lying areas we know tend to flood. So, we will be ready if we need to do take those actions."

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New Hampshire Port Authority Director Geno Marconi, in Portsmouth, said tides are rising. He said they are watching closely will advise further on conditions after high tide at 1:10 p.m. at Portsmouth Harbor.

Impact on flights: Storm's path was offshore but flights at Logan Airport still delayed or canceled

Utility companies in NH, Maine poised and ready

William Hinkle of Eversource reported in mid-afternoon New Hampshire's largest utility company had restored power to approximately 1,450 customers impacted by Lee and had about 1,560 customers without power, scattered across various communities and regions.

"We have released the additional external crews we brought on to support the restoration effort and made them available to support restoration in the states harder hit by the storm," he said. "At the same time, we’ve maintained ample crew resources on our system to restore current outages and address any additional issues that could arise while hazardous winds persist."

Stay updated: Here's our New Hampshire power outage map and our Maine power outage map.

Jon Breed is spokesperson for Central Maine Power, which, along with utilities in New Hampshire, had very few outages as of 9 a.m.

“We expect winds to pick up later this morning, with the strongest winds coming late morning and through the afternoon," Breed said. "Final steps of storm preparation took place early in the morning with the arrival of 500 additional crews to support teams already in place. These crews have been geographically placed across our service area.”

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Alec O'Meara of Unitil added, "We secured extra crews in advance of Lee and expect elevated winds throughout the day today. We're ready to go and prepared to escalate our response further should the storm take an unexpected turn.”          

Karen Dandurant, Max Sullivan, Shawn Sullivan and Dinah Pulver contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Hurricane Lee's effect in Seacoast NH, Maine: Winds, waves