Pics from a small bit of Heaven!

[Timothy]

Off of Watch Hill Rhode Island where the Pawcatuck River empties into Little Narragansett Bay, after the 1938 storm there were so may refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, kitchen cabinets and other flotsam from the storm they nicknamed that little piece of water "The Kitchen"!

It's still called that to this day...

"Napatree Point has an interesting history. It was originally connected to Sandy Point, Connecticut—now an island off Stonington—until the Great Hurricane of 1938 caused a breach in the spit. The huge storm reshaped much of the surrounding shore and destroyed numerous coastal homes. Indeed, the bottom of the anchorage remains littered with parts of cast-iron stoves, refrigerators and metal pipes, giving it the moniker “The Kitchen.”

[Timothy]

The hurricane of 1938 sent a 50 ft storm surge through there at high tide pushed by a 150 MPH wind.

Pats house is easily 25 foot higher up the bank so was spared in the hurricane.  Others were not so lucky.  My sister in laws younger brother owns a 3 million dollar property he built about a mile south of my brothers.  He's a 1 percenter....and employs about 100 people in his side job as general contractor...  It has a 10 million dollar view for the low, low price of 2.5 to 3 million...

[tombogan03884]

Napatree Point had 44 nice summer cottages along Fort Rd at 3PM, at 7 PM it was a sand bar.
What you know as today's "Watch Hill" is less than 1/3 of the original, the rest washed away.
All that is impressive, but I can't get over 275 MILLION trees down in one afternoon

[Timothy]

Napatree Point had 44 nice summer cottages along Fort Rd at 3PM, at 7 PM it was a sand bar.
What you know as today's "Watch Hill" is less than 1/3 of the original, the rest washed away.
All that is impressive, but I can't get over 275 MILLION trees down in one afternoon

Remember, in 1938 there was no building code or insurance!  Why we allow people to build houses on the beach is the question!

Today, that area is somewhat protected or insured by taxpayer subsidized flood insurance.  Napatree point was one issue.  Based on the storm surge you've mentioned, the entire Watch Hill and Stonington coastline was 30 or 40 feet underwater as was New London, Groton, Niantic and points west and the Cape wasn't much better off!

Some of the most populated coastline in the country...

[Pathfinder]

And Katherine Hepburn was in the midst of that 1938 storm too at her family's summer estate.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

And Katherine Hepburn was in the midst of that 1938 storm too at her family's summer estate.

Her, her brother, and a friend of theirs were swimming, when the back of the house and 2 chimneys blew away brother said "it's time to go".  

Thing about Napatree Point was those "cottages"  were not little shacks, they were wealthy peoples places, 2 two story's and you dressed for dinner served by "the help".
The damage totaled more than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the Chicago fire combined.
One thing worth mentioning, The Mayor of Providence declared Martial law and ordered looters shot, and they were.
People trapped in buildings by the flood reported gunshots all night long.

There have been 3 hurricanes known to have followed that path, 1655, 1815, and 1938 . 1938 was the worst.
There is an annual high pressure area that forms in the Atlantic called the "Bermuda High" that funnels storms toward the Gulf and Southern Atlantic coast, In this case there was also a high pressure front sitting on the East coast that forced the storm East of it's usual track, it stayed about 100 miles off the coast which aimed it straight at Long Island.

[Timothy]

Thing about Napatree Point was those "cottages"  were not little shacks, they were wealthy peoples places, 2 two story's and you dressed for dinner served by "the help".

But, they weren't built to todays standards!  Most coastal homes are built to withstand the wind damage in CT but nothing can stop a storm surge and a Cat 5 combined...Florida is better prepared today because of the frequency of the storms.  CT and MA only have to deal with a Cat 5 every 50 or 100 years.

In 1938, it wasn't a Cat 5....it was a good blow!

[tombogan03884]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir%E2%80%93Simpson_Hurricane_Scale

It only missed  Category 5 by 2 MPH, winds recorded at 155 MPH traveling at 60 MPH.

[Timothy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir%E2%80%93Simpson_Hurricane_Scale

It only missed  Category 5 by 2 MPH, winds recorded at 155 MPH traveling at 60 MPH.

What I meant was there wasn't a Saffir-Simpson scale in 1938...