|left The majority of the storm damage was from
storm surge and wind. Damage was estimated at $308 million (equivalent to $ billion in ), making it among the most costly hurricanes to strike the U.S. mainland. It is estimated that, if an identical hurricane had struck in 2005, it would have caused $39.2 billion in damage due to changes in population and infrastructure. Approximately 600 people died in the storm on
Long Island, New York, and in
Connecticut and
Rhode Island. An additional 708 people were reported injured. associated with the 1938 New England hurricane In total, 4,500 cottages, farms, and other homes were reported destroyed and 25,000 homes were damaged. Other damages included 26,000 automobiles destroyed and 20,000 electrical poles toppled. The hurricane also devastated the forests of the Northeast, knocking down an estimated two billion trees in New York and New England. The Northeastern Timber Salvage Administration (NETSA) was established to deal with the extreme fire hazard that the fallen timber had created. In many locations, roads from the fallen tree removal were visible decades later, and some became trails still used today. The
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad from New Haven to Providence was particularly hard hit, as countless bridges along the
Shore Line were destroyed or flooded, severing rail connections to badly affected towns such as
Westerly, Rhode Island. Due to the lack of technology in 1938, Long Island residents were not warned of the hurricane's arrival, "
Yale and
Harvard both owned large forests managed by their forestry departments, but both forests were wiped out by the hurricane. However, Yale had a backup forest at Great Mountain in northwestern Connecticut which was spared from the totality of the damages, and they were able to keep their forestry program running, which maintains operation today. Harvard's program, however, was reduced as a result.
New Jersey The western side of the hurricane caused sustained tropical storm-force winds, high waves, and storm surge along the
Jersey Shore and destroyed much of the boardwalk in
Atlantic City. The
Brigantine Bridge was destroyed over
Absecon Inlet between Atlantic City and
Brigantine, New Jersey. The surge inundated several coastal communities;
Wildwood was under of water at the height of the storm, and the boardwalk was destroyed in
Bay Head and dozens of cottages washed into the ocean. Crops sustained wind damage. The maximum recorded wind gust was at
Sandy Hook. The highest winds were from the north to northwest on the back side of the storm. Bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed until the following afternoon. 95% of
Nassau County lost power, where floods brought traffic to a halt. In
Manhasset Bay, almost 400 boats were ripped from their moorings and smashed or sunk, with more than 100 washing up on the beach by the
Port Washington Yacht Club. Similar scenes occurred in other locations on the north shore. The
J. P. Morgan estate in
Glen Cove was heavily damaged. The wife of New York City mayor
Fiorello La Guardia was forced to wait out the storm on the second floor of their
Northport cottage.
Mitchel Field army airfield was buffeted by winds of nearly and was under knee-deep water. In
Williston Park, residents of 50 homes needed to be rescued by rowboat when heavy rain the previous few days combined with the rain from the hurricane to overflow a pond.
Eastern Long Island from the hurricane hitting a seawall in the New England coast|235x235px The orientation of Eastern Long Island facing due south, made it extremely exposed to the storm surge and intense winds. The estimated peak storm tide in parts of eastern Long Island was . A mean low water storm tide of was recorded at
Port Jefferson. The Dune Road area of
Westhampton Beach was obliterated, resulting in 29 deaths. There were 21 other deaths through the rest of the east end of Long Island. The storm surge temporarily turned
Montauk into an island as it flooded across the South Fork at
Napeague and obliterated the tracks of the
Long Island Rail Road. Many other smaller roads were wiped away in the storm surge. So extensive were the storm surge and overwash on eastern Long Island, that rescue workers had to use utility maps to figure out where roads and homes had been. Ten new inlets were created on eastern Long Island. which was the tallest building in
Sag Harbor. The steeple has not been rebuilt.
Wading River suffered substantial damage. The storm blew down the movie theater on
Front Street in
Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island. The fishing industry was destroyed, as was half of the apple crop. In
Jamestown, seven children were killed when their school bus was blown into Mackerel Cove. Mobs looted stores in downtown Providence, often before the flood waters had fully subsided. The tide was higher than usual because of the
autumnal equinox and full moon, and the hurricane produced storm tides of 14 to along most of the Connecticut coast, with 18 to tides from
New London, Connecticut east to
Cape Cod—including the entire coastline of Rhode Island. Many homes and structures were destroyed along the coast, as well as many structures inland along the hurricane's path, and entire beach communities were obliterated on the coast.
Napatree Point was completely swept away, a small cape that housed nearly 40 families between the Atlantic Ocean and
Little Narragansett Bay just off of
Watch Hill. Napatree is now a wildlife refuge with no human inhabitants. Concrete staircases and boardwalk bases destroyed by the hurricane can still be found when sand levels are low on some beaches. The boardwalk along Easton's Beach in Newport was completely destroyed by the storm. The original parchment of the 1764 Charter of
Brown University was washed clean of its text when its vault was flooded in a Providence bank.
Newport recorded the highest water level of the storm at above mean sea level, according to a
NOAA study. This storm level is above the
SLOSH model of a 100-year storm, and one estimate is that this water level "reflects a storm occurring roughly once every 400 years." A study of sand deposits also gives evidence that this was the strongest hurricane to hit Rhode Island in over 300 years.
Connecticut in
Hartford, Connecticut in the aftermath of the hurricane; the Travelers Insurance Co. building appears in the back , 1938, by
Sheldon Dick Eastern Connecticut was on the eastern side of the hurricane. Long Island acted as a buffer against large ocean surges, but the waters of Long Island Sound rose to great heights. Small shoreline towns to the east of New Haven experienced much destruction from the water and winds, and the 1938 hurricane holds the record for the worst
natural disaster in Connecticut's 350-year history. The mean low-water storm tide was at Stamford, at Bridgeport, and at New London, which remains a record high. In
Old Lyme, beach cottages were flattened or swept away. The
NYNH&H passenger train
Bostonian became stuck in debris at
Stonington. Two passengers drowned while attempting to escape before the crew was able to clear the debris and get the train moving. Along the Stonington shorefront, buildings were swept off their foundations and found inland. Rescuers found live fish and crabs in kitchen drawers and cabinets while searching for survivors in the homes in
Mystic.
New London was first swept by the winds and storm surge, after which the waterfront business district caught fire and burned out of control for 10 hours. Stately homes along Ocean Beach were leveled by the storm surge. The permanently anchored 240-ton
lightship at the head of New London Harbor was found on a sand bar away. Interior sections of the state experienced widespread flooding as the hurricane's torrential rains fell on soil already saturated from previous storms. The
Connecticut River was forced out of its banks, inundating cities and towns from
Hartford to
Middletown. Ultimately the storm became the deadliest and costliest storm in Connecticut history.
Massachusetts taken during the summer of 1938. The eye of the storm followed the Connecticut River north into
Massachusetts, where the winds and flooding killed 99 people. In Springfield, the river rose six to above flood stage, causing significant damage. Up to of rain fell across western Massachusetts, which combined with over that had fallen a few days earlier to produce widespread flooding. Flash flooding on the Chicopee River washed away the Chicopee Falls Bridge, while the Connecticut River flooded most of the Willimansett section. Residents of
Ware were stranded for days and relied on air-dropped food and medicine. After the flood receded, the town's Main Street was a chasm in which sewer pipes could be seen. To the east, the surge left
Falmouth and
New Bedford under eight feet of water. Two-thirds of the boats sank in New Bedford harbor. Several homes were washed away on Atlantic Boulevard in
Fall River, and their foundations can still be found on the beach today. The
Blue Hill Observatory registered sustained winds of and a peak gust of , which is the strongest hurricane-related surface wind gust ever recorded in the United States. A wave, the tallest of the storm, was recorded at
Gloucester. The storm filled in a former waterway between
Winthrop's Point Shirley neighborhood and Boston's
Deer Island with sand and dirt, creating an additional common border between Winthrop and
Boston transforming Deer Island at the peninsula's southern tip into an island by name only.
Vermont The storm entered
Vermont as a Category 1 hurricane at approximately 6:00 pm EDT, reaching northern Vermont,
Burlington, and
Lake Champlain around 8:00 pm. A train was derailed in
Castleton. It is the only system on record to have entered the state as a tropical cyclone.
New Hampshire , 1938, by Peter Roome Even though the storm center tracked further west, through Vermont,
New Hampshire received considerable damage. As in Vermont, very high winds brought down numerous trees and electric lines, but rainfall totals in New Hampshire were significantly less than those in other states. Only of rain fell in
Concord. Damage at
Peterborough was worse, however; total damage there was stated to be $500,000 , which included the destruction of 10 bridges. Much of the lower downtown burned because floodwaters prevented firefighters from reaching and extinguishing the blaze. Other communities also suffered considerable damage to forest resources. In New Hampshire, 13 people perished. At
Mt. Washington, winds gusted to and knocked down part of a trestle on the
Cog Railway.
Maine In
Maine, buildings and trees were damaged and power outages occurred. Storm surge was minimal, and winds remained below hurricane strength. The storm did not claim any lives in Maine.
Maryland and Delaware The western periphery of the hurricane brought heavy rain and gusty winds to Delaware and southeastern Maryland. Damage, if any, is believed to have been minimal.
Quebec As the hurricane was transitioning into an
extratropical cyclone, it tracked into southern Quebec. By the time the system initially crossed into Canada, it continued to produce heavy rain and very strong winds, but interaction with land had caused the system to weaken significantly. Still, many trees were blown down. Otherwise, damage in this region was minimal. ==See also==