Yesterday’s high winds reminded me that hurricane season is not officially over until the end of November. I’ve studied the hurricane of 1938—hurricanes were not yet given names—and it was a lethal, stealthy, unanticipated disaster for the Hamptons.
Westhampton bore the direct, destructive brunt of the storm and suffered the most damage with 29 deaths and more than 150 homes destroyed. Even in the village center, a mile inland, the storm surge reached over six feet.
In Southampton, only two cottages remained on Dune Road. In Bridgehampton, nearly 50 barns were lost and potato fields were washed away or buried beneath tons of sand. More than 80 Montauk fishing boats were destroyed or seriously damaged, and 150 fishermen were left homeless. Oyster and clam beds were totally wiped out. The pre-Revolutionary elms and locusts that formed a canopy over East Hampton’s Main Street were in ruins. The Shinnecock Inlet, now a permanent geographical feature, was created by the storm.
The amount of damage and loss of life—more than 50 people perished on Long Island—was truly staggering. Let’s hope the next six weeks are calm and beautiful in the Hamptons.