Everything now appears to be coming together for a very dangerous storm in southern New England.  When Sandy makes her closest pass on Monday night, we will have a full moon and high tide.  The full moon on its own makes the tide especially high; and now we add Sandy.  Regardless of whether Sandy makes landfall in New York City or southern New Jersey, storm surge may approach historic levels for Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.  The forecasted surge is 3 to 6 feet. With the addition of 10 to 15 foot breakers on top of that, beaches, roads, and even some homes could end up flooded. 

Mandatory evacuations have already been issued in parts of Westerly, RI, and there may be more to follow.  The path of the storm makes things worse; as Sandy makes that expected hook left, she will drive water towards to shore for a long period of time.  The National Weather Service is usually very careful with their language, so the following excerpt got my attention.  This is from a statement issued at 12:27pm on Sunday:

THIS IS MOST SERIOUS COASTAL FLOOD THREAT IN YEARS FOR PORTIONS
OF THE SOUTH COAST OF RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS. PEOPLE NEED
TO COMPLETE PREPARATIONS BY LATE TODAY. MAJOR COASTAL FLOODING IS
CONSIDERED SEVERE ENOUGH TO CAUSE AT LEAST SCATTERED STRUCTURAL
DAMAGE ALONG WITH WIDESPREAD FLOODING OF VULNERABLE SHORE ROADS
AND/OR BASEMENTS. SOME VULNERABLE HOMES MAY BE SEVERELY DAMAGED
OR DESTROYED. NUMEROUS ROADS WILL BECOME IMPASSABLE…SOME WITH
WASHOUTS SEVERE ENOUGH TO BE LIFE- THREATENING IF ONE ATTEMPTED
TO CROSS ON FOOT OR BY VEHICLE. SOME NEIGHBORHOODS WILL LIKELY BE
ISOLATED. EVACUATION OF SOME NEIGHBORHOODS WILL LIKELY BE
NECESSARY. PLEASE HEED THE ADVICE OF LOCAL OFFICIALS.

I especially agree with that last line.  -Pete Mangione