Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,584
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    LopezElliana
    Newest Member
    LopezElliana
    Joined

75th Anniversary of the 1938 Hurricane


Ginx snewx

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 72
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Hey Ginxy!!!

 

Thanks for posting this today.  I was sleeping when it went live, and was planning to do this.  My colleague, Stephanie, did a GREAT job with this project!!!  I haven't had a chance to watch the new videos yet (yes, they are NEW!!).  Something to look forward to.

 

--Turtle 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Ginxy!!!

 

Thanks for posting this today.  I was sleeping when it went live, and was planning to do this.  My colleague, Stephanie, did a GREAT job with this project!!!  I haven't had a chance to watch the new videos yet (yes, they are NEW!!).  Something to look forward to.

 

--Turtle 

Nice page, hopefully we hear some great stories here. I know my passion for weather stems from the 38 cane. Having grown up in the town of Westerly RI which suffered the highest casualties and severe destruction, I was exposed to generational stories and fear from a very early age. My Dad was a first responder and witnessed the carnage first hand. I have spoken with a lot of the residents over the years and the absolute consistent message was fear. none had ever or since experienced what an eye wall is all about. The ones who lived near the coast were always hesitant to speak but I did have the pleasure of having an extensive talk with local farmer Whit Davis whose family sheltered on Barn Island Ct the Moore family whose home was destroyed on Napatree Point RI by what they described as a 30-40 foot wall of water. They rode a portion of the roof upside down into Little Narragansett Bay ending up on Barn Island. Whit described for me how he and his father in the beginning stages of the storm lashed one of their barn roofs down which had started to fail. His descriptions were so vivid of the immense power and noise they encountered. One aspect he stressed was how cold it got that night and how crystal clear it was. He told me of seeing the fire in NL and wondering if the entire city had burned down. That storm did make Westerly one of the best prepared towns for future storms and one of the first to implement a strategic evacuation plan. Generations have passed down the stories and residents have heeded the calls every time a threat materializes. Last years Sandy destruction was another stark reminder to my hometown how fragile barrier beaches are and what the potential is.

Napatree Pont before and after

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice page, hopefully we hear some great stories here. I know my passion for weather stems from the 38 cane. Having grown up in the town of Westerly RI which suffered the highest casualties and severe destruction, I was exposed to generational stories and fear from a very early age. My Dad was a first responder and witnessed the carnage first hand. I have spoken with a lot of the residents over the years and the absolute consistent message was fear. none had ever or since experienced what an eye wall is all about. The ones who lived near the coast were always hesitant to speak but I did have the pleasure of having an extensive talk with local farmer Whit Davis whose family sheltered on Barn Island Ct the Moore family whose home was destroyed on Napatree Point RI by what they described as a 30-40 foot wall of water. They rode a portion of the roof upside down into Little Narragansett Bay ending up on Barn Island. Whit described for me how he and his father in the beginning stages of the storm lashed one of their barn roofs down which had started to fail. His descriptions were so vivid of the immense power and noise they encountered. One aspect he stressed was how cold it got that night and how crystal clear it was. He told me of seeing the fire in NL and wondering if the entire city had burned down. That storm did make Westerly one of the best prepared towns for future storms and one of the first to implement a strategic evacuation plan. Generations have passed down the stories and residents have heeded the calls every time a threat materializes. Last years Sandy destruction was another stark reminder to my hometown how fragile barrier beaches are and what the potential is.

Napatree Pont before and after

 

Likewise the descriptions I heard from Barrington, being able to walk on the debris across the coves without fall through.

 

I remember working for a moving company and doing a job in the Alfred Drowne section of Barrington. They had us remove the cellar door to bring to the new house, which we thought was odd. However, on the door was inscribed "salvaged 9/22/38." Their parents had found it among the debris and had no idea where it came from, but thought it would be a nice monument to the storm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm really excited for the big event that Blue Hill is throwing on Saturday. Dr. Louis Uccellini is going to be speaking, and there'll be talks by authors and professors. I hope some really great stories will be there, as I've never heard much about the storm from my family.

Get his snowstorm book if he has it
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This picture is pretty sick given it's Keene, NH and not Montauk, LI. The scene would be unimaginable today.

2593029704_3b79160756.jpg

 

It'll happen again... history repeats itself, it's just a matter of time.  

 

No doubt many will call it "unprecedented" though, and blame it all on climate change. 

 

The incredible stories and pictures never cease to amaze me...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still have never seen anything close to this storm up in interior MA (ORH specifically) in terms of straight line wind damage when viewing through the old pictures. I experienced the macroburst of 5/31/98 here that produced gust to 94mph (and unofficially 104mph at Holy Cross College) and drove around the next day viewing damage...and it doesn't stack up to the '38 pictures.

 

No doubt that winds gusted over 100 knots in several spots well inland...probably particularly any south facing hills. But just an incredible storm nonetheless. It will eventually happen again, though there's a good chance none of us will be around the next time it does. The combo of forward speed and storm strength is tough to replicate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still have never seen anything close to this storm up in interior MA (ORH specifically) in terms of straight line wind damage when viewing through the old pictures. I experienced the macroburst of 5/31/98 here that produced gust to 94mph (and unofficially 104mph at Holy Cross College) and drove around the next day viewing damage...and it doesn't stack up to the '38 pictures.

 

No doubt that winds gusted over 100 knots in several spots well inland...probably particularly any south facing hills. But just an incredible storm nonetheless. It will eventually happen again, though there's a good chance none of us will be around the next time it does. The combo of forward speed and storm strength is tough to replicate.

 

One thing about the wind damage is that the rain prior to the storm was exceptional. Many places already had serious flooding ongoing prior to the storm which really made the wind damage from uprooted trees a lot worse than it would have been otherwise. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing about the wind damage is that the rain prior to the storm was exceptional. Many places already had serious flooding ongoing prior to the storm which really made the wind damage from uprooted trees a lot worse than it would have been otherwise. 

 

 

Yes I knew that much....there was a lot of structural damage though too which probably wouldn't have been affected much by the rain prior to the storm. Its hard to compare structural damage from different eras, but it was definitely bad.

 

The tree damage definitely had some "Irene syndrome" though...tons of rain leading up to the event.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes I knew that much....there was a lot of structural damage though too which probably wouldn't have been affected much by the rain prior to the storm. Its hard to compare structural damage from different eras, but it was definitely bad.

The tree damage definitely had some "Irene syndrome" though...tons of rain leading up to the event.

For sure! How much structural damage was there around ORH? I have seen in CT a lot of pics of steeples and chimneys blown down and along the coast some houses with roofs ripped off but I've always expected to see more roof damage given widespread cat 2 sustained.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

For sure! How much structural damage was there around ORH? I have seen in CT a lot of pics of steeples and chimneys blown down and along the coast some houses with roofs ripped off but I've always expected to see more roof damage given widespread cat 2 sustained.

 

 

A lot of the photos are grainy, but some of the structural damage looks pretty impressive

 

 

38_1.jpg

hurricane1938a.jpg

1938_1.jpg

different shot of the first pic:

wounit.jpg

RE: CT wind....I wonder if most of CT was too far west to get the worst winds...maybe far E/SE CT? The max LLJ (at least based on a lot of the obs) seemed to go up through RI.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of the photos are grainy, but some of the structural damage looks pretty impressive

38_1.jpg

hurricane1938a.jpg

1938_1.jpg

different shot of the first pic:

wounit.jpg

RE: CT wind....I wonder if most of CT was too far west to get the worst winds...maybe far E/SE CT? The max LLJ (at least based on a lot of the obs) seemed to go up through RI.

Seems like Windham/New London Counties were right near the RMW on eastern eyewall. The eye solidly crossed over a large portion of central CT coast. The maps from landsea look pretty good based on damage I've seen. Some houses that are really banged up here look like they took a few direct tree hits too rather than pure wind damage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my favorite picture of the damage simply because this is the spot in Shore Rd in Westerly where my Dad responded to. His descriptions to me were exactly as this pictures. Notice in the distance the homes left standing on Atlantic Avenue barrier beach. This was the final resting place for a lot of folks. If you walk this area today you can still see debris from 38 scattered here and there.2001-19-219-lg_74e73e2164.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my favorite picture of the damage simply because this is the spot in Shore Rd in Westerly where my Dad responded to. His descriptions to me were exactly as this pictures. Notice in the distance the homes left standing on Atlantic Avenue barrier beach. This was the final resting place for a lot of folks. If you walk this area today you can still see debris from 38 scattered here and there.2001-19-219-lg_74e73e2164.jpg

Incredible Picture. 

 

Just to get my bearings...  Winnapaug Road would be off to the right of this picture...and this view is bascially looking across the pond towards where Sandy Shore Motel and Paddy's is today.  State Beach would be off to the left...

 

I think its wonderful how our town memorializes this event every year... not just on the 75th anniversary.  You would be hard pressed to find anyone in this town, including school age kids,  that isn't aware of the '38 hurricane.  As it should be...    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Incredible Picture. 

 

Just to get my bearings...  Winnapaug Road would be off to the right of this picture...and this view is bascially looking across the pond towards where Sandy Shore Motel and Paddy's is today.  State Beach would be off to the left...

 

I think its wonderful how our town memorializes this event every year... not just on the 75th anniversary.  You would be hard pressed to find anyone in this town, including school age kids,  that isn't aware of the '38 hurricane.  As it should be...    

yes where Winnapaug day camp was, think its a preserve now. check out google sat map of the area you can see the debris line from Sandy, pretty cool. Yes probably the most hurricane aware town in RI as it should be. Google street view today and debris line From Sandy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...