New England Hurricane (1938)
| Category 5 hurricane ( SSHWS ) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Emergence | September 10, 1938 | |
| resolution | September 22, 1938 | |
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Peak wind speed |
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| Lowest air pressure | 938 mbar ( hPa ; 27.7 inHg ) | |
| dead | 682-800 | |
| Property damage | $ 306 million (1938) | |
|
Affected areas |
Bahamas , New York , Connecticut , Rhode Island , Massachusetts , Vermont , New Hampshire , southern Quebec | |
| Season overview: Atlantic hurricane season 1938 |
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The New England Hurricane of 1938 (in English-speaking countries: New England Hurricane of 1938 or Great New England Hurricane or often Long Island Express or simply The Great Hurricane of 1938 ) was the first major hurricane to hit New England after 1869 . The storm formed near the West African coast in September 1938 . The strongest hurricane of the 1938 Atlantic hurricane season reached the strength of a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale and passed as a severe Category 3 hurricane over Long Island on September 21 . The effects of the hurricane killed between 682 and 800 people, and more than 57,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. Property damage was estimated at $ 306 million ( $ 5.54 billion in today's prices). In 1951, the damage to trees and buildings was still visible in the affected areas. To date, the hurricane is the strongest, most damaging and most casualty hurricane in New England history.
background
Prior to the 1938 hurricane season, no hurricane had caused significant damage to the northern section of the east coast of the United States for several decades . However, there have been several major hurricanes in history that struck the northeast, albeit at a much lower frequency than the Gulf of Mexico , Florida, or the southeastern states.
- The Great September Gale of 1815 (the term hurricane was not yet common in common parlance at the time) hit New York City directly as a Category 3 hurricane , causing extensive damage there and creating an inlet that spans the places on Long Island Rockaways and Long Beach ended on two different barrier islands.
- The 1821 Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane was a Category 4 hurricane that gradually crossed the shoreline four times in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and southern New England. The storm caused the highest recorded storm surge ever in Manhattan - nearly four meters - and devastated the agricultural areas of Long Islands and southern New England.
- The Saxby Gale of 1869 affected areas in northern New England. It eroded the coast of Maine and the Canadian Outer Banks. This storm was the last major hurricane to hit New England before 1938.
- The New York hurricane of 1893 was a Category 2 storm and hit the city directly. The storm surge removed the seaside resort of Hog Island from the Long Islands map.
The northeastern United States experienced a significant demographic change between 1893 and 1938 as many immigrants from Europe settled in the cities of New York and New England. These people knew little or nothing about tropical cyclones. Most people at the time associated hurricanes with the warmer areas of the Gulf Coast and the southern Atlantic coast, but not the actually colder waters off New York and New England. The only tropical systems that had an impact in this area were weak residual systems. Much more common were the Nor'easter , strong low pressure storms that occurred mainly in autumn and winter. Although these winds reach wind speeds similar to those of tropical cyclones, they do not result in severe storm surges on the New England coasts. By 1938, most of the previous tropical storms were largely forgotten.
Storm course
The storm was first spotted on September 10th south of Cape Verde . Over the next ten days he steadily gained strength and slowly migrated in a west-northwest direction. It is estimated that the hurricane hit Category 5 east of the Bahamas on September 20. A low pressure trough over the Appalachian Mountains directed the hurricane northward, sparing the Bahamas, Florida , the Carolina states and the central Atlantic coast. At the same time, a high pressure area north of Bermuda prevented the hurricane from turning eastward into the open Atlantic Ocean. This effectively forced the hurricane northward between the two weather systems. Late on September 20, this situation resulted in the hurricane's migratory speed increasing significantly. In the early hours of September 21st, the storm eased slightly , a few hundred kilometers southeast of Cape Hatteras , North Carolina . At around 8:30 am EST , the hurricane was about 160 km east of Cape Hatteras and the train speed had increased to well over 80 km / h. This rapid forward movement prevented the hurricane from having sufficient time over the cooler waters to weaken before reaching Long Island. At 9:00 a.m. EST, the hurricane rushed through the waters off the coast of Virginia. Between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. EST, the western extremities of the storm reached the shores of New Jersey and New York City . At this point, the weather on Long Island and along the south coast of New England began to deteriorate. The full force of the hurricanes reached Long Island after 2:00 p.m. and the eye landed at Fire Island in Suffolk County at 3:30 p.m. By 4:00 p.m. the eye had already crossed Long Island Sound and came over land for the second time near New Haven , Connecticut. Modern analyzes of the data showed that the hurricane reached category 3 at both times, with maximum wind speeds of 190–205 km / h. After reaching the Connecticut coast, the hurricane moved inland. At 5:00 p.m. the eye reached western Massachusetts and an hour later Vermont. Both Westfield , Massachusetts and Dorset , Vermont reported calm winds and partial clearing during the passage through the eye, which is rather unusual for a New England hurricane. As the hurricane pushed further north into Vermont, it began to lose its tropical properties. Still with hurricane-force winds, the storm hit the Canadian province of Québec around 10:00 p.m. EST as the storm turned into a non-tropical depression . The no longer tropical residual low dissolved a few days later over northern Ontario .
Effects
Most of the storm damage was caused by the storm surge and the wind. At today's prices, the hurricane is one of the most damaging to hit the mainland of the United States. Estimates of the current (2005) population density and prosperity rate assume that a comparable hurricane would cause property damage of 39.2 billion US dollars (2005).
Approximately 600 people died in the storm in New England, most of them in Rhode Island and up to 100 people elsewhere in the hurricane's path. Another 708 people were reported as injured.
In addition to houses, farms and businesses, 26,000 cars were destroyed and 20,000 electricity pylons were overturned. The storm also wreaked havoc in the forests of the northeastern United States. The number of fallen trees in New York and New England has been estimated at two billion. Flooding from the precipitation associated with the storm was minor as the storm was moving very quickly; only in a few small areas did precipitation add up to more than 250 mm.
Maryland and Delaware
The western periphery of the hurricane brought heavy rain and gusts of wind to Delaware and southeastern Maryland, but the damage in these areas was believed to have been minor.
New Jersey
On the western side of the hurricane, wind speeds on the New Jersey coast reached gale force, creating high waves and a storm surge. In Atlantic City , the storm surge destroyed much of the boardwalk. In addition, some coastal towns were flooded; in Wildwood the water was three feet high at the height of the hurricane. The strongest gust of wind in New Jersey was measured at 112 km / h on Sandy Hook .
new York
New York City was hit hard by the hurricane. Wind speeds of up to 120 km / h swept through Manhattan, so that the East River poured three blocks into the city center. The power went out in the whole city. Even Brooklyn , Queens, and Nassau Counties on the western end of Long Island received strong hurricane winds even though they were on the lower wind side of the island.
East Long Island suffered most from the effects of the hurricane. There were 29 fatalities in the Dune Road area in Westhampton Beach . Including visitors to a cinema that was washed into the Atlantic. Almost twenty visitors to the cinema and the projectionists drowned. In the rest of Long Island, 21 other victims were recorded. The storm surge temporarily turned Montauk into an island as the southern arm of the island at Napeague was flooded and the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road were destroyed.
The storm surge also changed the sandbars at Cedar Point Lighthouse, connecting the island to what is now Cedar Point County Park . It also created a sea bay, today's Shinnecock Inlet . They cut out a large part of the island that previously separated Shinnecock Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. The storm also tore down the steeple of the tallest building in Sag Harbor , the Old Whaler's Church . The steeple was not rebuilt. The Wading River was also badly affected.
In Greenport on the northern arm of Long Island, the wind destroyed the cinema on Front Street. In Brightwaters, in the center of the island, a couple's car was torn off the road and washed into a canal, drowning the two occupants.
Rhode Island
The storm surge struck Westerly , Rhode Island at 3:50 p.m. , killing around 100 people there alone.
The tide was higher anyway, because the autumn equinox coincided with the full moon . The storm surge reached a height of 4.2 to 5.4 m on the coast of Long Islands and Connecticut and between 5.4 and 7.5 m between New London eastwards to Cape Cod . The storm surge was particularly fierce on the Rhode Island coast, where hundreds of summer cottages were washed into the sea. As the storm surge pushed north into Narragansett Bay , the water backed up through the funnel shape of the bay, so that the water was several meters high in some parts of Providence at a level of 4.7 m above normal high tide . Some drivers drowned in their vehicles. Part of the economic hardship caused by the Great Depression was the looting of downtown shops, often before the water had completely receded.
The storm surge was so powerful that it was indicated by seismographic instruments in California and Alaska.
Many houses and structures on the coast and inland were destroyed in the hurricane track. Entire beach towns on the Rhode Island coast were wiped out. Napatree Point, a small cape between the Atlantic Ocean and Little Narragansett Bay near Watch Hill , where some forty families settled, was completely washed away. Today Napatree is a nature reserve with no human inhabitants. The only buildings right on the coast that got in the way of the hurricane and weathered the storm were the massive tall stone houses in Newport , largely because those tall residences were high above the waves on Cliff Walk , although The Breakers and Carey Mansion are still today show traces of the wind.
One of the most tragic events known in connection with the storm was the fate of seven children who died after the driver left their school bus. This happened while trying to drive down a narrow causeway in Jamestown , but the bus got stuck. The children then got off the bus and formed a chain to get to safety. The human chain broke and the children were washed away. The children's bodies were later found in various locations on Narragansett Bay, only two children survived.
A few kilometers away from Conanicut Island, the lighthouse keeper Walter Eberle was killed when the Whale Rock lighthouse was torn from its anchorage by the waves. His body was never found.
Connecticut
Eastern Connecticut was on the east side of the hurricane. Long Island acted as a buffer against the heavy ocean waves for the Connecticut coast, but the water of the Long Island Sound rose to previously unimaginable heights. Smaller coastal towns east of New Haven were almost completely destroyed by water and wind. To date, the 1938 hurricane is the worst natural disaster in Connecticut's 350-year history.
In the coastal towns of Clinton , Westbrook and Old Saybrook , rubble from buildings was found on the streets. Actress Katharine Hepburn wrote in her 1991 memoir that she waded through the water from her beach house in Old Saybrook to safety and that almost all of her belongings were lost or destroyed. In Old Lyme , too , cottages on the beach were razed to the ground by the wind or washed away by the waves. In Stonington houses were lifted from their foundations and swept three kilometers inland. While searching for survivors in Mystic, aid teams found live fish and crabs in drawers and cupboards.
New London was first hit by the wind and storm surge, later the business district on the waterfront caught fire and burned completely out of control for ten hours. Stately homes on Ocean Beach were leveled by the storm surge. The 240-ton lightship , which was anchored at the entrance to New London Harbor, was later found a few kilometers away on a sandbar .
The hinterland parts of the state experienced widespread flooding as the heavy rain from the hurricane fell on soil that was already soaked. The Connecticut River burst its banks and flooded towns and cities between Hartford and Middletown .
Massachusetts
The Eye of the Storm followed the Connecticut River valley north to Massachusetts , where 99 people lost their lives as a result of storm damage and flooding. Overall, the river rose 1.8–3 m above the flood line and caused significant damage. Up to 150 mm of precipitation fell in the west of the state, adding up to the 100 mm of precipitation that had fallen in the area a few days earlier. Residents of Ware were cut off from the outside world for a few days and had to rely on supplies of goods thrown from the air. After the flood retreated, the town's main street was full of holes like cheese.
In the east of the state, the storm surge put Falmouth and New Bedford under water nearly eight feet. Two thirds of the boats in New Bedford Harbor sank in the storm. The Blue Hills Observatory recorded sustained wind speeds of 195 km / h and registered a peak gust of 299 km / h.
The route of the New Haven Railroad between New Haven and Providence was hit particularly hard, as numerous bridges along the Shore Line were destroyed or washed away.
Vermont
The hurricane hit Vermont around 6:00 p.m. Hurricane-force winds also caused extensive damage to trees, houses, and power lines in Vermont. More than 3,200 km of public roads were blocked by fallen trees and power poles, and some of the affected roads took months to reopen to traffic. Despite the damage the hurricane did in Vermont, only five people were killed in the state.
New Hampshire
Although the storm center moved further west through Vermont, significant damage was also done in New Hampshire . As in Vermont, the wind knocked down countless trees and power lines there, but rainfall was lower than in other affected states. In Peterborough , the damage was estimated at $ 500,000 (1938; in today's prices $ 9.055 million). The damage included ten destroyed bridges and most of the lower downtown area, which burned down because firefighters could not reach the source of the fire. Other nearby villages also recorded forest damage. In New Hampshire, the effects of the hurricane killed 13 people.
Maine
The damage in Maine was largely limited to fallen trees and power outages. The storm surge was low here and the winds stayed below the hurricane strength. There were no deaths in Maine from the storm.
Canada
The storm, which turned into an extra-tropical low overland, moved to southern Québec. When the system reached Canada, it initially generated heavy rain and very strong winds, but the effects of the land took a toll on the storm. Nevertheless, the wind knocked down numerous trees in Québec as well. Other than that, the damage was minimal.
Hurricanes in New England after 1938
In contrast to the long period of relatively low hurricane activity in New England that preceded the 1938 hurricane, the region was hit by hurricanes more frequently and was hit by a number of major hurricanes. The most momentous of these were the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 , Hurricane Carol , Hurricane Edna and Hurricane Hazel (all 1954), the severe flooding residual depth of Hurricane Connie , Hurricane Diane , Hurricane Ione (all 1955), Hurricane Donna (1960), Hurricane Gloria (1985) and the last system so far, Hurricane Bob (1991).
See also
Web links
- An episode of the American Experience PBS documentary series was dedicated to this hurricane .
- Damage from the hurricane
- National Hurricane Center (PDF; 9.4 MB), Brian R. Jarvinen Storm Tides in 12 Tropical Cyclones .
- State University of New York: Suffolk County Community College - History of Storm
bibliography
- Everett S. Allen: A Wind To Shake The World . Little & Brown, Boston 1976, ISBN 0316034266 .
- Cherie Burns: The Great Hurricane: 1938 . Atlantic Monthly Press, New York 2005, ISBN 087113893X .
- Goudsouzian, Aram. The Hurricane of 1938. Commonwealth Editions, 2004.
- RA Scotti: Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 . Little & Brown, Boston 2003, ISBN 0316739111 .
supporting documents
- ↑ The Great Hurricane of 1938 - The Long Island Express ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b R. A. Scotti: Sudden Sea - The Great Hurricane of 1938 (English) , Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 2003. Archived from the original on January 2, 2007 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved November 30, 2007.
- ↑ The Great Hurricane of 1938 (English) . In: The Boston Globe , Boston.com, July 19, 2005. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
- ^ Lane, FW The Elements Rage (David & Charles 1966), 16
- ↑ Christine Gibson ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. "Our 10 Greatest Natural Disasters," American Heritage , Aug./Sept. 2006.
- ↑ NOAA website: THE GREAT NEW ENGLAND HURRICANE of 1938
- ↑ http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2008/alm08sep2.htm
- ↑ http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2008/alm08sep3.htm
- ↑ Costliest US Hurricanes 1900-2004 (adjusted)
- ↑ Ranked Using 2005 Inflation, Population, and Wealth Normalization
- ^ The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996
- ↑ Damage Caused by Storm ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2008/alm08sep2.htm
- ↑ http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2008/alm08sep2.htm
- ↑ Alistair Cooke, 'Hurricanes,' Sep. 23, 1988, Letter from America (Penguin: London, 2004)
- ↑ 1938 Hurricane - September 21, 1938
- ↑ Weather History of the '38 Hurricane ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2008/alm08sep3.htm
- ↑ http://www.nasw.org/users/nbazilchuk/Articles/disastweb.htm
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Nicholas K. Coch, Hurricane Hazards in the Northeast - A Re-appraisal based on recent research . Fairfield University. 2005. Archived from the original on September 4, 2006. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
- ^ History of Tropical Cyclones in Canada . Canadian Hurricane Center. September 7, 2005. Archived from the original on October 2, 2006. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
