Eye On the Storm

Norm Dvoskin

This year is the 70^th anniversary of The Great Storm that hit Long Island. On September 21, 1938, the eye of a category three hurricane made landfall somewhere near Patchogue at about 3:30 in the afternoon. In terms of deaths and destruction it was the greatest natural disaster ever to hit Long Island. Fifty fatalities were attributed to this storm and hundreds of homes on the barrier beaches were washed away. At Westhampton Beach, for example, there were 179 homes before the storm. The hurricane of ‘38 washed away 150 of these. Of those that remained, none could ever be used again. The storm is known as the "Long Island Express" because of it’s 60 mph speed as it moved up the coast from the Carolinas. It’s also termed The Great New England Hurricane because after it crossed the Sound, it moved into New England and killed more than 600 people.

To commemorate this event, The Long Island Museum at Stony Brook has been hosting a major exhibition that began on June 21 and will end October 26, 2008. The exhibition is called, "Eye on the Storm: Long Island’s Dangerous Coast." The exhibit includes artifacts saved from the storm, photographs, rare film footage and video interviews with some survivors of the storm. As part of this exhibit, I was invited to be a host and guest speaker on Sunday October 5. My presentation is scheduled for 2 P.M.

I will talk about the vulnerability of Long Island to major hurricanes and northeasters, the history of past storms and my personal experiences as a News 12 Long Island meteorologist dealing with hazardous weather. The major focus of my talk will be about the 1938 hurricane and its impact on Long Island and the consequences of a similar storm re-occurring.