Prickly Fall: Hurricane Fear

Pricky Fall: Hurricane Fear

Photo of Books about New England Hurricanes (1938 and 1954), taken by the author.
9 July 2009

When we cleaned out the items in our parent's houses, we found some books published and given freely to Rhode Island residents about the Hurricane of 1938 (often called the Long Island (NY) Express and the Hurricane of 1954 called Carol.

As part of my Master's coursework, I did a project about these Hurricanes. My family both maternal and paternal lived through the Hurricane of 1938 and I interviewed them about what they remembered. Many books have been written about that hurricane and the newsreels are available on YouTube. Because of a failure to predict hurricanes at that time, coupled with the beginning of World War II, this storm devastated much of New England. Power was out for weeks and the economy suffered. It was a blow to New England during the Great Depression.

We found out that my mother, who was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design couldn't drive in the wind (in a convertible) and a fellow student took over driving the car home.  My father, was working at the Bradford Dye in Westerly, was an able bodied adult and was called upon to help move bodies from the ocean near Watch Hill to Westerly so that they could be identified by loved ones.

In 1954, I was scared of the high winds and my mother tried to calm me down by telling me that our new neighbor was in a Boston Hospital giving birth. I wanted to know why anyone would have a baby during a big storm! Our neighborhood, plunged into darkness for days, became a place of fear as all the adults had lived through the 1938 hurricane and were not prepared at all.

It was my first experience of living without electricity. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. It gives me fear and anxiety.