The Hurricane of 1938

The Hurricane of 1938

Also called “The Great New England Hurricane” and “The Long Island Express,” the Hurricane of 1938 was a powerful category 3 hurricane the hit the East Coast, mainly Long Island and New England. The hurricane developed out of tropical storms near Cape Verde, and took the normal route of a hurricane: across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Caribbean Sea. The U.S Weather Bureau projected it to hit Florida and run up the coast. An warning was issued and many Florida residents got supplies. However, the hurricane mad a sudden right turn and started to head north. Charles Pierce, a young forecaster, told his superiors that because of two high pressure systems in unusual locations, the hurricane would smash right into the northeast coast, mainly Long Island and southern New England. They laughed at him and said it was just going to veer right out to sea and die there. That was their mistake. The hurricane made landfall in Long Island on September 21, 1938, at 2:30 p.m, at high tide and the night of a full moon, making the ocean waters very high. It caused severe damage and an enormous amount of deaths. It went straight through Long Island and southern New England, causing most of its damage there. It then made its way into northern New England and Canada, but had lost its intensity. It finally died out over Canada that night. Overall, wind speed average at 120 mph, and wind gusts topping out at 186 mph. The storm surge (sea-level rise during a storm) was 12-15 ft high, on top of the already high sea levels, and wave heights reaching 50 feet. This deadly storm took 700 lives, 600 being from the regions talked about above, and caused 3.06 million 1938 dollars in damage (today about 18 billion).