Great New England Hurricane of 1938
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The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was the first major hurricane to strike New England since 1869. It formed near the Cape Verde islands in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It struck the New England coast on September 21st, 1938 as a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It was forecasted by the National Weather Service to curve out into the Atlantic Ocean but instead traveled almost due north and crossed into New England at Long Island, New York. It then traveled through Connecticut, Vermont and then into Canada while still traveling at an unusually high speed. This storm was unusual in that its forward speed approached 70 mph; this speed has an additive effect on the wind speeds in the right hand quadrant of the storm. The right hand quadrant of the storm traveled up to the west of Narragansett Bay which forced a storm surge up to the capital city of Rhode Island, Providence It is estimated that 600 people died in the storm in New England and up to 100 people elsewhere in the path of the storm.
Many homes and structures along the coast were destroyed as well as many structures inland along the hurricane's path.
While hurricanes sometimes cause extensive flooding, this one did not because it did not spend an extraordinary amount of time over any one place. However it devastated the forests of New England.