Tropical Storm Irene tracked north northeast across eastern New York and western New England during Sunday, August 28th, producing widespread flooding, and damaging winds across the region.
Irene tracked from a position over New York City around 8 AM EST Sunday, to approximately 10 miles west of Danbury, CT at 10 AM EST, to approximately 15 miles south of Pittsfield, MA at 1 PM EST Sunday, to approximately 65 miles south of Rutland, VT at 4 PM EST.
The greatest impact from Irene across western Massachusetts was due to heavy to extreme rainfall, which resulted in widespread flash flooding. Rainfall amounts generally averaged 3 to 6 inches, although locally higher amounts of 6 to 9 inches occurred across extreme northern and eastern portions of the county. Much of the rain which fell occurred within a 12 hour period, beginning early Sunday morning, and ending Sunday evening.
This heavy to extreme rainfall resulted in widespread flash flooding and river flooding across Berkshire County. In Berkshire County, widespread road closures occurred due to flooding and downed trees and power lines. Numerous evacuations also occurred, including the towns of Otis, Sandisfield, Cheshire, Adams, Williamstown, and North Adams. A debris flow was also reported in North Adams.
Furthermore, major flooding was reported on the Hoosic River at Williamstown, with moderate flooding reported on the West Branch Farmington River at New Boston and the East Branch Housatonic River at Coltsville, and minor flooding on the Housatonic River at Great Barrington.
Strong winds also occurred across Berkshire County, with frequent wind gusts of 35 to 55 mph, along with locally stronger wind gusts exceeding 60 mph. The strongest winds occurred from the north to northeast during the morning hours, then from the west to northwest during Sunday evening. The combination of strong winds, and extremely saturated soil led to numerous downed trees and power lines across the region. This also resulted in widespread long duration power outages.
In particular, the approximate number of customers affected by power outages included: Berkshire County, 10000.
On August 26th, 2011 an Emergency Declarartion was declared, FEMA-EM-3330. This declaration made Public Assistance available to all 14 counties in the state of Massachusetts.
Public Assistance: assistance to state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency work and repair or replacement if disaster-damaged facilities.