WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – Although exceptionally rare, New England has had a few damaging hurricanes during the last 100 years. Irene and Sandy left widespread damage in their paths but those are just recent examples of tropical systems to have had an impact on the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States. There are anniversaries this week of two exceptionally destructive – and deadly storms –in New York and New England.
On September 21, 1938, a Category 3 hurricane made landfall on Long Island on its way to New England. Moving northward at more than 50 mph – the fastest moving hurricane on record in the Atlantic – this hurricane brushed the Outer Banks of North Carolina that morning and made landfall in New York that afternoon. The exceptionally fast pace the storm was moving, combined with the almost unheard of intensity for a hurricane outside the tropics, caught people off guard and claimed hundreds of lives. This hurricane occurred before it was even named.
The storm caused $308 million in damage in 1938, but adjusted for inflation that amount would equate to $4.8 billion in 2011 dollars according to the National Hurricane Center. However, Long Island was relatively undeveloped at this point in history with a low population density. Therefore, it's quite likely that a similar hurricane would cause much more damage now since the northeastern United States is considerably more developed today than it was in 1938.
On September 27, 1985, Hurricane Gloria made landfall on Long Island, NY as a Category 1 storm and caused widespread damage totaling almost $1 billion. At one point Gloria was a Category 4 hurricane but weakened before arriving in the northeastern United States. In August 1991, Hurricane Bob made landfall in Rhode Island as a Category 2 hurricane and caused $1.5 billion in damage. Both names, Gloria and Bob, have been retired from future use by the World Meteorological Organization because of how damaging they were. Bob was the most recent hurricane to make landfall in New England.
There are presently no tropical storms or hurricanes anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean but the team of meteorologists at WUSA9 will keep viewers apprised of any developments both on-air and online at wusa9.com.
