The hurricane then raced northward across Massachusetts, gaining speed again and causing great flooding. The waters of the bay surged into Providence harbor around 5 p.m., rapidly submerging the downtown area of Rhode Island’s capital under more than 13 feet of water. Winds in excess of 120 mph caused a storm surge of 12 to 15 feet in Narragansett Bay, destroying coastal homes and entire fleets of boats at yacht clubs and marinas. The hurricane gained intensity as it passed into Rhode Island. Much of the business district was consumed. In New London, a short circuit in a flooded building started a fire that was fanned by the 100 mph winds into an inferno. Rivers swollen by a week of steady rain spilled over and washed away roadways. Inland, people were drowned in flooding, killed by uprooted trees and falling debris, and electrocuted by downed electrical lines.Īt 4 p.m., the center of the hurricane crossed the Long Island Sound and reached Connecticut. At Westhampton, which lay directly in the path of the storm, 150 beach homes were destroyed, about a third of which were pulled into the swelling ocean. Surges of ocean water and waves 40 feet tall swallowed up coastal homes. Around 2:30 p.m., the full force of the hurricane made landfall, unfortunately around high tide. Fishermen and boaters were at sea, and summer residents enjoying the end of the season were in their beachfront homes. Weather Bureau learned that the Category 3 storm was on a collision course with Long Island on the afternoon of September 21, it was too late for a warning.Īlong the south shore of Long Island, the sky began to darken and the wind picked up. There was no advanced meteorological technology, such as radar, radio buoys, or satellite imagery, to warn of the hurricane’s approach. With Europe on the brink of war over the worsening Sudetenland crisis, little media attention was given to the powerful hurricane at sea. However, this hurricane was moving north at an unusually rapid pace-more than 60 mph-and was following a track over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. Hurricanes rarely persist after encountering the cold waters of the North Atlantic. It had been well over a century since New England had been hit by a substantial hurricane, and few believed it could happen again. Weather Bureau, was sure that the hurricane was heading for the Northeast, but the chief forecaster overruled him. READ MORE: 5 Times Hurricanes Changed HistoryĬharlie Pierce, a junior forecaster in the U.S. On September 19, however, the storm suddenly changed direction and began moving north, parallel to the eastern seaboard. It was expected that the storm would make landfall in south Florida, and hurricane-experienced coastal citizens stocked up on supplies and boarded up their homes. Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service). Six days later, the captain of a Brazilian freighter sighted the storm northeast of Puerto Rico and radioed a warning to the U.S. The officially unnamed hurricane was born out a tropical cyclone that developed in the eastern Atlantic on September 10, 1938, near the Cape Verde Islands. Also called the Long Island Express, the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was the most destructive storm to strike the region in the 20th century. When you visit, be sure to stop at the historic bridges that were instrumental in creating the Florida Keys you now enjoy.Without warning, a powerful Category 3 hurricane slams into Long Island and southern New England, causing 600 deaths and devastating coastal cities and towns. The Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail is now a multi-use trail with a rich history. In August of 2004, the remaining 20 historic Railroad Bridges and the Overseas Highway were listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1997 a task force was created to preserve the bridges and open them for pedestrian and recreational use. In 1979 the third longest historic railroad bridges were listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Long Key Channel, Knight’s Key (7 Mile) and Bahia Honda Channel. As new bridges replaced the original railroad bridges, the historic bridges went unused. The process to convert the railroad into highway had already begun. Due to the high cost of building and maintaining the railroad, the company chose to sell the railroad to the state of Florida and Monroe County for $640,000. It is considered the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S.Īfter the hurricane, there was some damage, but the railroad remained mostly intact. The hurricane ripped through the Florida Keys with winds estimated at 200 mph. The railroad remained in operation until the Labor Day hurricane in 1935. The railroad was finally complete in 1912 and was called the 8th wonder of the world.
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