Storm Prep in Stonington Borough: What's Actually Documented

The Real Data Point: How the Borough Prepared for Hurricane Irene in 2011

The most concrete, dated, Borough-specific storm-prep account available comes from Patch's coverage of Hurricane Irene, headlined "Borough battens down," describing preparations in the days before the storm made landfall on August 27, 2011. Per that reporting, residents nailed plywood over windows, sandbags went into doorways, and Borough officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for the borough area effective by 6pm ahead of landfall. Between the Wednesday and Saturday before the storm, roughly 21 houses were boarded up, and nearly 40 boats were hauled out of the water for protection - a meaningful share of the Borough's small housing stock and local boat population, given that the entire Borough covers less than a square mile. State Senator Andrew Maynard reportedly commended the preparation effort at the time.

It is worth being precise about what this account is and is not. It is preparation reporting - a real, on-the-record snapshot of what residents and officials actually did to get ready. It is not a damage report: no post-storm damage total, repair cost, or insurance-loss figure for the Borough from Irene surfaced in this research, and none is invented here. If a specific property's Irene history matters to a purchase decision, that is a question for the seller, a title search, or the Borough's own records - not something this page can answer with a number it does not have.

Regional Context: The 1938 Hurricane Hit Watch Hill, Rhode Island - Not the Borough

The 1938 Great New England Hurricane is often the first storm people mention when the Stonington area comes up, and it is worth stating plainly why it belongs in this page only as background, not as Borough damage. Per a Patch retrospective, the 1938 storm produced a peak storm surge of roughly 50 feet striking "on the Connecticut-Rhode Island border in the Stonington-Watch Hill area," and it specifically obliterated roughly 40 houses on Fort Road at Napatree Point. Napatree Point is a barrier peninsula in Watch Hill, Rhode Island - across the state line, not part of Stonington Borough, Connecticut. Per that same reporting, nobody has been allowed to rebuild there since.

That distinction matters for anyone evaluating storm risk here: the 1938 hurricane's most dramatic, total-loss destruction happened on a different peninsula, in a different state, under a different jurisdiction's rebuilding rules. It is legitimate regional context for how exposed this general stretch of the Connecticut-Rhode Island shoreline can be in a major storm - but it is not a Stonington Borough damage figure, and this page will not present it as one.

Why the Borough Is Genuinely Exposed: The Geography Behind the Prep

Stonington Borough's storm exposure is not abstract - it is a function of its shape. The Borough covers just 0.7 square miles total, and roughly half of that is water. It sits on a peninsula jutting out into Fishers Island Sound and Little Narragansett Bay, with Stonington Harbor tucked along its inner side. That geometry - a small, low-lying peninsula surrounded on most sides by open sound and bay water - is exactly the kind of setting where the Irene-era response (evacuation orders, boarding windows, hauling boats) makes practical sense rather than looking like overreaction. It is also the same general coastal exposure that put Napatree Point, just across the state line, in the direct path of the 1938 storm's surge.

This page does not have a current, parcel-level FEMA flood zone breakdown for individual Borough addresses. Given how small the Borough is and how much of its acreage is water, confirming a specific property's flood zone directly with the Town of Stonington or FEMA - rather than assuming a general "waterfront" risk level - is a genuinely useful first step before budgeting for any storm-prep work.

Boat Owners: Real Haul-Out and Storage Infrastructure Nearby

The nearly 40 boats hauled out during Irene did not have to go far - the Borough and its immediate surroundings have real, named marine infrastructure built for exactly that purpose. Don's Dock, just north of the Borough's shopping district on Water Street, offers roughly 200 slips plus moorings in Stonington Harbor for larger vessels. Dodson Boatyard offers roughly 110 moorings, a staff of 35 technicians, an on-site yacht broker, and full-service maintenance. Coveside Marina, part of the Lockwood Marinas group, accommodates vessels up to 46 feet with full-service maintenance and off-season storage.

For a boat owner weighing storm prep, these three - Don's Dock, Dodson Boatyard, and Coveside Marina - represent the kind of haul-out and storage capacity that made the Irene-era response possible at scale. None of this page's research turned up current haul-out pricing, wait-list length, or storm-season booking policy for any of the three; those questions belong to the marinas themselves, and availability during an active storm warning should never be assumed - contact them directly, well before a storm is forecast, to understand their specific procedures and lead times.

Who Coordinates Storm Prep: Borough and Town Governance

Stonington Borough is a separately governed historic borough - distinct from, but located inside, the much larger Town of Stonington (18,335 residents and 50.0 square miles per the 2020 Census). The Borough is run by its own Board of Warden and Burgesses, currently Warden Michael Schefers alongside Burgesses Amy Nicholas, Amanda Barnes, Kevin Rogers, and Kevin Bowdler, which meets on the third Monday of each month. That is the Borough's own local governance layer for questions specific to Borough streets, ordinances, and coordination.

For the broader emergency-management apparatus - evacuation-zone determinations, shelter information, and town-wide storm response - the Town of Stonington's emergency management resources are the relevant authority, since the Borough sits inside that town's jurisdiction rather than operating a separate emergency-management department of its own. Anyone planning storm prep here should treat the Board of Warden and Burgesses as the point of contact for Borough-specific questions and the Town of Stonington as the point of contact for broader emergency coordination, rather than assuming either one alone covers everything.

What This Means for Prep: No Invented Costs, Real Next Steps

Nothing in the research behind this page prices out storm shutters, a generator, flood barriers, tree removal, or any other specific storm-hardening measure for a Stonington Borough property, and this page will not manufacture an itemized cost list just because its title implies one should exist. Those costs depend on the specific property, the contractor, and current material and labor prices - none of which were documented in the research behind this page.

What the documented material above does support is a starting point for prioritization: treat the 2011 Irene response - evacuation order, roughly 21 houses boarded, nearly 40 boats hauled - as a realistic template for what an actual major storm warning looks like here, rather than a worst case; confirm a specific property's flood zone directly with the Town of Stonington or FEMA given how small and water-fronted the Borough is; for boats, contact Don's Dock, Dodson Boatyard, or Coveside Marina well ahead of storm season to understand their specific haul-out procedures and any lead time or capacity limits; and get actual, current pricing for any storm-hardening work from a licensed contractor familiar with this stretch of the Connecticut shoreline.

Before You Budget or Plan Around Any of This

Everything above describes a documented 2011 preparation account, general regional and geographic context, real marine infrastructure, and current Borough and town governance - it is not an engineering assessment, a safety plan, or a property-specific cost estimate. No dollar figures for storm damage or storm-prep measures are stated as fact anywhere on this page, because none were found in the research behind it. Confirm current evacuation-zone status and emergency-management guidance directly with the Town of Stonington, confirm Borough-specific questions with the Board of Warden and Burgesses, and get actual pricing for any storm-hardening work or marina services from the businesses and licensed contractors involved. This page is not engineering advice, insurance advice, financial advice, or a substitute for a licensed professional's assessment of a specific property.