Hurricane In The Hamptons 1938

More than 150 historical photographs, many taken by survivors of the storm, capture the devastating impact of the 1938 hurricane on the Hamptons area of Long Island. Original.

Prophetic fiction that is a warning of storms to come.

The thrilling story of the hurricane of 1938, the worst New England storm of the 20th century, as told by a reporter whose first day on the New Bedford waterfront was the day the storm blew in.

The massive destruction wreaked by the Hurricane of 1938 dwarfed that of the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Earthquake, and the Mississippi floods of 1927, making the storm the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Now, R.A. Scotti tells the story.

A bucolic resort setting -- the summer colony and locals are caught in the path of a sudden and devastating hurricane in this brilliant and prophetic fiction that is a warning of storms to come. “For those few who still remember, the images are seared into their brains: the corpses floating down Main Street; the boats that drifted into the living rooms of flooded houses; the dead dogs and featherless chickens; the muck and fish stink; the moonscape of flattened houses; the residue of the last great hurricane to hit Long Island, the storm of 1938. “ - The New York Times This is a story of that day – a day that began much like any other day at the ragtag end of the summer season on the eastern end of Long Island – better known as The Hamptons. The storm came without warning landing at three in the afternoon bringing with it unprecedented wind and rain and waves so high and powerful they were recorded on seismographs 5000 miles away in Alaska. But A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER is not just a hurricane novel. The storm is a framing device for an historical tableau vivant of this near mythical place – The Hamptons – brought to life via the stories of townspeople, the wealthy summer colony, the fishing folk and the art crowd. Written by a natural tale-spinner and masterful portraitist of character and place, it does have one wild, furious storm at its center – an historic tempest that wreaked havoc on the little towns and villages that line the ocean front of the South Fork of Long Island. Could it happen again? Yes - it will almost certainly happen again and no matter how many moguls build seaside monuments defying the odds, another hurricane like 1938 will surely be the deadliest in American history.

“Before there was the Perfect Storm, there was the Great Hurricane of 1938. A riveting and wonderfully written account.” —Nathaniel Philbrick On the night of September 21, 1938, news on the radio was full of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. There was no mention of any severe weather. By the time oceanfront residents noticed an ominous color in the sky, it was too late to escape. In an age before warning systems and the ubiquity of television, this unprecedented storm caught the Northeast off guard, obliterated coastal communities on Long Island and in New England, and killed nearly seven hundred people. The Great Hurricane, 1938 is a spellbinding hour-by-hour reconstruction of one of the most destructive and powerful storms ever to hit the United States. With riveting detail, Burns weaves together countless personal stories of loved ones lost and lives changed forever—from those of the Moore family, washed to sea on a raft formerly their attic floor, to Katharine Hepburn, holed up in her Connecticut mansion, watching her car take to the air like a bit of paper. “A very good book.” —The Washington Post

"In the tradition of The Great Gatsby and Mrs Dalloway, Samantha Bruce-Benjamin delivers a haunting and evocative insight into five minutes in the life of a celebrated Hamptons society hostess, set against the backdrop of The Great Hurricane of 1938. September 21st 1938, and at Serena Lyons' exquisite Hamptons estate, the footmen are serving vintage champagne, the orchestra is playing a favorite tune, and the house is lit so brightly it could almost be mistaken for a star in the distance. The occasion is the last party of the season at The Westhampton Leisure Hour and Supper Club and anybody who is anybody has turned out in force. All except for one. As her guests arrive, Serena watches from her bedroom window, searching for a face in the crowd: The Summer Visitor she has never forgotten ... Based on historical research about the Hamptons at the peak of its grandeur, the devastation that the 1938 hurricane wrought, and a real supper club called The Leisure Hour and Supper Club, Bruce-Benjamin spins a story that will remind readers of Rebecca or, more recently, Rules of Civility"--Back cover.

A gripping description of New England's storm of the century.