Overview
- On Aug. 19, 1991, Hurricane Bob made multiple New England landfalls, including brief hits on Block Island and near Newport, Rhode Island, and later in Maine, leaving 18 dead and causing more than $1 billion in damage.
- Meteorologists say Bob formed from a decaying frontal boundary near Bermuda and the Bahamas, then rapidly intensified over the warm Gulf Stream to reach Category 3 strength before weakening to a Category 2 at New England landfall.
- The National Weather Service recorded peak gusts near 125 mph in parts of Cape Cod and the Hartford area, and storm surge reached about 10 to 15 feet in Buzzards Bay with roughly 8 feet along parts of the Rhode Island coast.
- The storm forced roughly 50,000 people to evacuate, filled official shelters, produced an 11-mile traffic jam on Cape Cod approaches, and left about 500,000 Massachusetts households without power for days.
- This year’s 35th‑anniversary packages from the Boston Globe use archival photos and first‑person recollections to remind readers that a strong El Niño lowers season odds but does not eliminate the threat of a single, destructive storm and that Bob remains the last hurricane to make landfall in New England.