There's Nothing To Fear But Atmos-fear

By Norm Dvoskin

Relatively speaking, we have a relatively tranquil climate. We get occasional northeasters, blizzards and even tornadoes. Some of these have caused significant damage and disruption, but most have been inconveniences rather than life threatening events. In terms of death and devastation, hurricanes have been and should be a major concern of all Long Islanders.

The hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin begins June 1^st and ends November 30^th. It’s the only time of year you can get a ticket for going more than 75 miles per hour and never leave your house. (just kidding)

Long Island has a long history of destructive hurricanes. However, in modern times, no full blown hurricane has made a direct hit on Long Island before the first week of August and after the middle of October . Things start to heat up around here in August as we approach the peak time which is around the middle of September.

The month of August has featured three significant hurricanes since the beginning of the 20^th century. Hurricane Carol traversed Long Island on a line from Westhampton to Cutchogue on August 31, 1954 with winds of 80 mph and gusts to 120 mph. High tides combined with heavy rain caused extensive coastal flooding. Communities on the North and South shores had to be evacuated. Thousands of trees were uprooted resulting in 275,000 power outages.

Hurricane Belle made landfall near Jones Beach just before midnight on August 9, 1976 with winds of 90 mph. It moved directly north through East Meadow, Westbury and entered Long Island Sound near Bayville. Once packing 120 mph winds, it lost it’s energy in the relatively cool waters just south of Long Island. Thus damage was much less than was expected.  I was living in Plainview at the time and on the evening of the 9^th the gusty winds pushed a small tree in my backyard over at about a 30 degree angle to the ground. I figured I’d go out the next morning to tie it. I went out early on the 10^th and the shift in wind as the storm passed overnight, blew the tree back into an upright position.

On August 19, 1991, the eye of Hurricane Bob moved directly over Montauk Point with winds of 101 mph. The storm felled trees and power lines, resulting in 380,000 power outages. More than 7 inches of rain was reported in Bridgehampton. Two deaths were attributed to this storm. Hurricane Bob was the only fully developed hurricane to hit Long Island covered by News 12 Long Island. We began broadcasting in December 1986.