So today passed quietly, not so on September 21st, 1938 when what is now known at The Great New England Hurricane came barreling across Long Island also devastating Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Estimates are that between 682 and 800 people lost their lives in this Category 5 hurricane that turned into a category 3 by the time it hit landfall but kept sending gusts in the category 5 range. Providence was flooded with 13 feet of water in a flash. A 20 to 25 foot wall of water raced up the Sakonnet River laying bare Island Park in Portsmouth.
Fitting that as an artist I found some photos in an antique shop that had been taken with an old Kodak Box camera including this one with a Painting sign left hanging. This image is from the Port of Providence as researched by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. I lent these photos to NOAA for research and historical purposes and they are now in the public record. You can see more images of the impact on Rhode Island on my hurricane page of this website.
As global warming continues the pot will boil more furiously and greater variations in weather patterns are our shameful our future.
