The Long Island Express {NBBT Part. III}

"Long Island and New England had been lashed by rain for four straight days. The air was unnaturally warm & muggy. Ears felt queer because atmospheric pressure was decreasing. In Vermont people noticed the smell of the seashore in the air"......The storm happened quickly. People on the southshore of Long Island saw what one of them described as a 'thick and high bank of fog rolling in fast from the ocean...When it came closer we saw that it wasn't fog. It was water. '....The storm surge stuck Long Island around 2:30 PM (near high tide) on September 21st 1938. So mighty was the power of that first storm wave that its impact registered on a seismograph in Sitka, Alaska, while the spray carried northward at well over a hundred miles an hour whitened windows in Montpelier, Vermont. *

With Hurricane Katrina back in the news this week as Washington holds still more hearings on what went wrong I felt the need to revisit N.B.B.T. again. The reason? Katrina didn't happen out of the blue. Everybody knew what would happen if a major hurricane hit New Orleans. All of the governmetal studies and Army Corp of Engineer reports basically detailed exactly what happened with the critical exception "THAT THE MAIN FURY OF THE STORM, i.e.the eye, MISSED THE CITY. That is all of Katrina's damage resulted from a near miss. So it could have been much worse. Yet in spite of all these studies New Orleans was not prepared. Forget about whose fault it was-government at all levels failed the citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. In the 1960's, New Orleans was lashed by Hurricane Betsy which also flooded its lower 9th ward and Camille just missed giving it but a glancing blow. In spite of this history it is beyond comprehension to understand how she wasn't ready for an event that was sure to come once again. But New Orleans isn't the only area to be ravaged by intense storms. New England is an unlikely place for most of us to consider devastating hurricanes but they do occur. Below is a brief history of the 1938 Hurricane that lashed New England. Katrina was likely a piker compared to this storm. To grasp the energy of these storms remember that a category 1 hurricane-one with winds blowing in excess of 75 m.p.h. is as powerful as 500 Nagasaki-type atomic bombs and contains more electricity than the entire United States uses in six months.

The 1938 Hurricane is the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the Atlantic coast between Virginia and Massachusetts since at least 1869. Every record for wind speed, tidal surge, and barometric pressure in New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island - can be traced to this single event. In terms of fatalities and property damage - the 1938 hurricane stands as one of the worst disasters in American history. In a matter of hours, 600 people were killed, 3500 were injured, and more than 75,000 buildings were damaged. The states of New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, suffered their worst natural disaster in recorded history.

At the time of landfall on central Long Island, sustained winds in the 1938 hurricane have been estimated at 115 to 120-mph. However, the extreme forward speed of the storm (estimated at up to 50-mph) increased the winds on the right side of the storm to much stronger values. Some conservative estimates place the peak winds to the east of the center at 150-mph along the immediate coastline. Many who experienced the 38 storm along the immediate coastline, reported the sound of the wind reached an incredible high pitch - almost a scream.

The 1938 hurricane produced the some of the most extreme coastal flooding ever known on the United States Atlantic coast. The 38 storm created a very fast moving storm surge more characteristic of a strong category 4 hurricane (winds 131 - 155 mph). This occurred because of the combination of a strong hurricane, moving at an extreme forward speed (50-mph), and striking the coast at almost the exact time of the autumnal high tide. Tidal surges up to 16-feet above mean sea level on Long Island and Rhode Island, and up to 12-feet in eastern Connecticut, have been estimated. Newspapers reported damage to buildings more than 20-feet above sea level. The 38 hurricane also sent a tidal surge of epic proportions funneling up Narragansett Bay. The city of Providence was flooded with 14 feet of water, submerging hundreds of cars, trolleys, and buildings. Along the open ocean facing coastal roads in Rhode Island and Long Island - the damage was horrific.

Whole beach communities were swept away - some without a trace. Some sections of the Rhode Island coast never recovered from the storm. To this day - several inlets created during the 38 hurricane still persist - along with the slabs and foundations of several buildings. The day after the 1938 hurricane slammed into the United States the attention of the world was on major political events unfolding (Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia). It was more than a week before news of the appalling death and destruction along the U.S. Atlantic coast reached the rest of the World. {This history is paraphrased from geocities. You can find the whole article here. {http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurr1938.htm}.

The 1938 hurricane has been estimated to have traveled from the Washington DC area to Long Island in about 12 hours. It put most of Long Island under water. Back then Long Island was largely pasture and summer homes. Today 7.4 million people call it home. It is 118 miles wide and 20 miles long at its widest. Its highest point is 122 feet above sea level. The 1938 storm submerged almost all of it. There are two major expressway arteries leading to New York City. Home to another 8 million people. It is estimated that 13 million people lived in the path of the 38 storm (it has no meteorological name-papers at the time dubbed it the "Long Island Express"). Today that same area has close to 45 million people. A sizeable percentage of which would be trying to evacuate the areas of prejected landfall.

The City of Providence erected a Hurricane Barrier after being flooded in 1938 and in 1954 by Carol (a category 2 storm that again submerged substantial portions of its downtown). To my knowledge no other major east coast city has any extensive hurricane systems or protections in place, nor are there any realistic plans for evacuating areas such as Long Island WHEN the next major storm arrives. As in New Orleans, government at all levels hopes to continue to kick this can down the road.

Except a category 3 hurricane of this sort lashes New England about once every 80-100 years. We're 78 years into this cycle so every year that passes just raises the statistical probability that such a storm will occur sooner rather than later. Allstate, the giant insurer of homes & automobiles, announced this week that it won't be renewing some homeowners policies in the New York area citing fears of massive losses in the event of a Katrina type hurricane. It has already said it wouldn't take on new home insurance in Westchester County, Long Island and the five boroughs of New York City. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183980,00.html. Governments may take no action but don't be surprised to see private companies start to prepare.

*Paraphrased from The Glory & the Dream, William Manchester, Bantam Books, 1973. pp 183-186.

Some statistical data taken from various entries at www.wikipedia.com. There is a great book about this storm which is a quick and easy read. "Sudden Sea" by R.A. Scotti. Here is an Amazon.com link. Note. I don't endorse things nor am I compensated by plugging this book. I just thought it was a good read. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316739111/102-4038786-1788913?v=glance&n=283155