Hurricane!

    Jim can remember the hurricane which hit New England on September 21, 1938. The Dalys were living at 39 Ida Street in Providence, R.I.  He was six years old and attending St. Anthony's School on Plainfield Street in Providence.  The day of the hurricane Jim can remember running home from school (he was in the second grade) and wondering why the sky was such a funny color.  That night the storm hit with all of its fury.  The wind howled and the rain pounded against the windows.  The Dalys lived on the second floor of a two-story house.  Jim's father's uncle, Pat Daly, the owner of the house, and his wife Katie, lived on the first floor.  Sometime during the night the wind blew in the front (parlor) room window and the rain began to soak the rug and furniture.  Jim's father and his uncle John, who was living with them at the time, quickly rigged a window patch out of blankets to keep the water out of the room.

    Jim's dad smoked a pipe and his uncle smoked cigarettes.  At some point during the storm, his uncle ran out of cigarettes.  Jim remembers his making a cigrette out of toilet paper and his father's pipe tobacco.  He must have truly been addicted to nicotine!

    The family was awake all night as the storm raged on.  They lost power early and Jim's mother scurried around looking for candles to shed some light as darkness fell.  Jim is not sure if his aunt Florence was with them at that time.  He can only remember sharing his fear with his parents, uncle and his sister, Pat, who was four years old.

    The next day was bright and clear.  There were trees down all over the place.  Power lines were drapped over downed trees and crushed automobiles.   It took days to get things back to normal.  There were stories and pictures of the devastation in all of the newspapers for several days.  Later on, after Jim grew up, he can remember being in downtown Providence and looking up in awe at the high water marks that were recorded on brass plaques attached to buildings such as the Providence Journal on Fountain Street.  He found the following references to the storm.

THE GREAT NEW ENGLAND HURRICANE of 1938
(CAT 3 - September 21)

The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was one of the most destructive and powerful storms ever to strike southern New England. This system developed in the far eastern Atlantic, near the Cape Verde Islands on September 4. It made a twelve day journey across the Atlantic and up the eastern seaboard before crashing ashore on September 21 at Suffolk County, Long Island, then into Milford, Connecticut. The eye of the hurricane was observed in New Haven, Connecticut, 10 miles east of Milford. The center made landfall at the time of astronomical high tide, moving north at 60 mph. Unlike most storms, the hurricane did not weaken on its way toward southern New England, due to its rapid forward speed and its track. This kept the center of the storm over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

Sustained hurricane force winds occurred throughout most of southern New England. The strongest winds ever recorded in the region occurred at the Blue Hill Observatory with sustained winds of 121 mph and a peak gust of 1 86~mph. Sustained winds of 91 mph with a gust to 121 mph was reported on Block Island. Providence, Rhode Island recorded sustained winds of 100 mph with a gust to 125 mph. Extensive damage occurred to roofs, trees and crops. Widespread power outages occurred, which in some areas lasted several weeks. In Connecticut, downed power lines resulted in catastrophic fires to sections of New London and Mystic. The lowest pressure at the time of landfall occurred on the south side of Long Island, at Bellport, where a reading of 27.94 inches was recorded. Other low pressures included 28.00 inches in Middletown, Connecticut and 28.04 inches in Hartford, Connecticut.

The hurricane produced storm tides of 14 to 18 feet across most of the Connecticut coast, with 18 to 25 foot tides from New London east to Cape Cod. The destructive power of the storm surge was felt throughout the coastal community. Narragansett Bay took the worst hit, where a storm surge of 12 to 15 feet destroyed most coastal homes, marinas and yacht clubs. Downtown Providence, Rhode Island was submerged under a storm tide of nearly 20 feet. Sections of Falmouth and New Bedford, Massachusetts were submerged under as much as 8 feet of water. All three locations had very rapid tides increased within 1.5 hours of the highest water mark.

Rainfall from this hurricane resulted in severe river flooding across sections of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Three to six inches fell across much of western Massachusetts and all but extreme eastern Connecticut. Considerably less rain occurred to the east across Rhode Island and the remainder of Massachusetts. The rainfall from the hurricane added to the amounts that had occurred with a frontal system several days before the hurricane struck. The combined effects from the frontal system and the hurricane produced rainfall of 10 to 17 inches across most of the Connecticut River Valley. This resulted in some of the worst flooding ever recorded in this area. Roadways were washed away along with sections of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad lines. The Connecticut River, in Hartford reached a level of 35.4 feet, which was 19.4 feet above flood stage. Further upstream, in the vicinity of Springfield, Massachusetts, the river rose to 6 to 10 feet above flood stage, causing significant damage. A total of 8900 homes, cottages and buildings were destroyed, and over 15000 were damaged by the hurricane. The marine community was devastated. Over 2,600 boats were destroyed, and over 3,300 damaged. Entire fleets were lost in marines and yacht clubs along Narragansett Bay. The hurricane was responsible for 564 deaths and at least 1700 injuries in southern New England. Damage to the fishing fleets in southern New England was catastrophic. A total of 2,605 vessels were destroyed, with 3,369 damaged.

Summary

CATASTROPHIC FIRES TOUCHED OFF BY POWERLINES IN CONNECTICUT!

This information was taken from SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND TROPICAL STORMS AND HURRICANES, A Ninety-eight Year Summary 1909-1997, by David R. Vallee and Michael R. Dion, National Weather Service, Taunton, MA.

New England Hurricane, 1938

This was one of the most destructive and powerful storms ever to strike southern New England, and was the first tropical storm to hit the heavily populated area of the Northeast in modern times. The storm roared ashore over Long Island, N. Y. at nearly 60 miles per hour, at the time of high tide on September 21 st . This created a deadly tidal surge, which even submerged downtown Providence, R. I. under 20 feet of water. Hurricane force winds were felt throughout New England, with a gust to186 miles per hour recorded at the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, Mass. The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was responsible for nearly 600 deaths and 1,700 injuries in Southern New England, along with catastrophic property damage estimated at $400 million.

Technology Sidebar: As the storm, later called the “Long Island Express,” neared Long Island, and three hours before high tide, residents reported seeing a thick bank of fog between 25 and 40 feet above the water. The fog bank turned out to be a massive wall of water, or a storm surge. A storm surge equals the magnified effects of an unusually high tide and forward speed of the storm. The New England Hurricane narrowly missed Manhattan by 55 miles to the east. Forensic hurricanologists agree that New York City would have been devastated had the storm been a few miles more to the west. Today, NWS storm surge experts use high- tech, 3- D models that simulate the impacts of a hurricane’s incoming waters and help prepare communities living along the coasts.

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