(HOST) After a wet summer and news of major storms like Gustav, Hanna, and Ike, most of us have had enough of bad weather. But teacher, historian, and commentator Vic Henningsen remembers the granddaddy of all New England storms – which occurred seventy-five years ago this week – and wonders…
(HENNINGSEN) After months of grey days and torrential downpours, the beautiful morning of September 21st 1938 promised at least one bright moment in an otherwise dismal summer.
It was not to be. Without warning, a little before 3 in the afternoon, what came to be called the Great New England Hurricane slammed ashore on Long Island. Outrunning Weather Bureau alarms, it sped to the mainland, moving up the Connecticut River. Turning northwest just beyond Brattleboro and passing over Lake Champlain near Burlington, the storm eventually blew itself out in Canada, having killed 682 people; injuring almost 2,000 more.
Hardest hit was southern New England, where entire coastal communities literally disappeared into the wind, and cities like Providence and Hartford experienced deadly floods. But northern New England also suffered. In New Hampshire, the Contoocook River flooded the Peterborough business district, shorting out electrical circuits. Fires broke out and townspeople watched in disbelief as high winds fanned a blaze consuming everything not already submerged. On Mount Washington, trestles on the Cog Railroad blew away. As the storm tracked through Vermont, rapidly rising water washed away roads and bridges, flooding villages, while Lake Champlain rose two feet.
The next morning, citizens of Montpelier looked through windows coated with wind-driven salt spray at tropical birds wandering dazedly on their front lawns. In the White Mountains, crews clearing blowdowns from hiking trails made less than of a mile a day. So great was the damage that eight of twelve trail maps in the White Mountain Guide had to be completely re-drawn before the next edition could be published.
Half of New Hampshire’s white pines were destroyed. Most of Vermont’s apple crop was wrecked and, by some estimates, almost of the state’s sugar maples uprooted.
Loss of life here was relatively light: thirteen in New Hampshire; only seven in Vermont. The financial toll was something else: some $12,000,000 in Vermont alone – almost $2 billion in today’s dollars. Less than 5% of lost property was insured. Nature had just made the Great Depression worse.
When devastated by floods in 1927, Vermont famously declined federal aid and toughed out recovery on its own. It’s a testament to just how bad things were in the late 30’s that the legislature not only welcomed federal funds, but directed Governor George Aiken to borrow an extra $2 million (the rough equivalent of some $300 million today) to repair the damage.
The biggest natural disaster in New England history, the ’38 hurricane led directly to improvements in weather forecasting and emergency preparedness. It’s doubtful we’ll ever again be caught so completely by surprise. But in an era of global warming, storms are growing more intense and more destructive. Even early warnings can’t protect against massive property loss. Could we cope today with damage like that caused by the ’38 blow? Sooner or later, we’re going to find out.