Hurricane Irene hit the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States in August 2011.  Irene became a hurricane on August 22 and became a Category 3 storm when it passed over the Bahamas.  The storm decreased to Category 1 when it made landfall in North Carolina on August 27.  The rain bands traveled across Pennsylvania on August 27 and 28, causing widespread flooding and destruction.  Because of the number of deaths and $15 billion worth of damage in the United States, the name Irene has been retired from the Atlantic storm list (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20120413_irene.html).

This collection contains photos taken on August 28, 2011, at ~10AM from the Sycamore Mills Bridge No. 54 in Ridley Creek State Park in Media, PA.  You can also view video clips of the flooding and two USGS streamflow discharge graphs for Ridley Creek – one showing the discharge for the week the post-hurricane rainfall hit, and one showing the streamflow discharge record for the year.  The USGS station page for Ridley Creek: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/uv?site_no=01476480&format=gif&period=31

Additional links about Hurricane Irene

• NOAA - http://www.noaa.gov/extreme2011/irene.html
• NOAA Animation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTji4qwE4lg
• NASA - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2011/h2011_Irene.html
• New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/us/31floods.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=storm%2...
• The Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/swarm/hurricane-irene

More information about hurricanes in general can be found on the PAESTA Diigo site: http://www.diigo.com/list/paesta/hurricanes

Photos taken by Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine