1938 Hurricane Wreaked Havoc On New York And New England

3 Responses to 1938 Hurricane Wreaked Havoc On New York And New England

1. Ivan says:

   August 25, 2011 at 5:31 am

   Seems to happen from time to time …
   “TERRIBLE STORM IN AMERICA.
   In Eastport, Maine, the storm assumed the force of a hurricane, and half a million dollar’s worth of property was destroyed. Twenty-seven vessels were driven ashore in Rumney’s Bay. The tide in the Bay of Fundy was enormous. Many important lumber dams in the Kennebee were carried away. In Connecticut the great cotton mills of Higganum were destroyed, and several houses in Glastonbury. In New York the Mohawk river rose ten feet above low water mark…”
   ~29 Dec 1869
   http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/65984369?

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2. Douglas Hoyt says:

   August 25, 2011 at 11:08 am

   I talked to an old timer who lived through that hurricane. He said he planned to stay and ride out the storm. Then he looked out the window and saw a refrigerator fly by. That is when he fled.

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3. Blade says:

   August 25, 2011 at 3:58 pm

   The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA) Saturday 24 September 1938

   DEATH AND HAVOC LEFT BY U.S. HURRICANE
   Fatalities May Reach 700
   HOUSES WASHED OUT TO SEA
   Huge Estimate Of Damage
   Australian Associated Press
   NEW YORK, September 23.

   The hurricane which yesterday struck the Atlantic seaboard of the United States has left behind it a trail of death and destruction in eight states. The death roll may reach 700, and 474 bodies have already bean recovered. Three thousand are in hospital, and 10,000 families are homeless. Damage is now estimated to exceed $400,000,000 {approximately £80,000,000 at par).

   Martial law has been declared in many towns where the destruction is greatest, and the shortage of food and medicine, and even drinking water, has become an acute problem. The Governors of the various States have formed emergency councils to handle the situation, especially in Connecticut, where the rising Connecticut and Merrunac Rivers, both already 33 feet above flood level have inundated Hartford and other cities, driving thousands from their homes and further aggravating a situation which is rapidly assuming the proportions of a national disaster.

   It was the worst hurricane New Eng land and New York have experienced for 100 years.

   President Roosevelt has ordered all available Government aid to be rushed to the stricken communities.

   The Governor of New Hampshire has telegraphed to President Roosevelt earnestly appealing for funds to meet the “grave problem of relief and rehabilitation.”

   In Boston, Providence, Hartford, New London, and Long Island numerous trains were overturned, miles of concrete roads were torn up, the contours of beaches were changed, and 1,000 houses destroyed. Bridges were torn down and communication and power lines over wide areas were ripped up by the wind, which reached a velocity of over 120 miles an hour in New York City and is believed to have been higher else where.

   Rhodes Island, where 250 dead are already known and with its principal cities and towns overswept by tidal waves, seems the hardest hit, with Long Island next. Many communities still remain isolated, and railway services have been seriously curtailed. Traffic between New York and Boston, for in stance, is being principally handled by air.

   More than 2,500 coastguards out of a total of 9,000, as well as Red Cross. W_P.A.. C.C.C., and other Government workers, are ministering to hundreds of injured and searching for the dead.

   Long Island’s most serious disaster occurred at Westhampton, where eight are dead and 50 missing. A hundred summer cottages owned by the wealthy were swept into the sea. At Lowell (Mass.) doctors removed a boy’s eye by candle light when the power failed. The Middleton (Conn.) State hospital was a scene of horror when insane patients rioted while the hurricane was at its height.

   New England’s dead total 104. Long Island’s south shore was devastated, twelve being killed. Fire Island was smashed by a 40-feet tidal wave, which killed two. Fire followed the storm in several Connecticut cities.

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