1944 Great Atlantic hurricane
The 1944 Great Atlantic hurricane was a severe tropical cyclone.[1] The entire U.S. Atlantic seaboard was affected in September 1944.[2] The hurricane struck several states from North Carolina to New York and central New England. The storm killed 300-400 people. It caused $100 million in damage.[3]
Warnings
During World War II, the US kept radio silence about military information including weather. The government was aware that German U-boats patrolled the coastal waters.[4] Hurricane-warning flags were posted at coast guard stations and post offices. But weather forecasters wanted the public to know this was a monster storm.[5] The Hurricane Warning Centers in Miami, San Juan, Washington DC and Boston issued a total of 51 warnings. In New York city alone there were thousands of phone calls made and received between September 12 and 15.[6]
Path
On September 9, 1944, it was first discovered just northeast of Puerto Rico.[2] It was already at hurricane strength. Weather reconnaissance aircraft discovered the eye of the storm over the northern part of the Bahamas.[2] The Miami office of the National Hurricane Center named it "Great Atlantic Hurricane" because of its great size.[a][8] For the next few days it moved steadily in a west-northwest direction.[9] On September 12, 1944, reconnaissance aircraft reported the storm was growing stronger.[b][9] At this time the winds were reported at over 150 mph and it was about 500 miles across.[9]
At 10 pm on 14 September the hurricane made landfall on eastern Long Island.[8] At this point it was a category 3 hurricane.[2] It passed just south of Boston, Massachusetts. It moved out to sea at 1:00 am on 15 September. The storm weakened into a tropical storm as it passed near the coast of Maine. It then moved into New Brunswick,Canada. On 15 September it became extratropical.[2] It then merged with another weather system southwest of Greenland.
Damages
Shipping
The hurricane caused a great deal of damage to World War II military ships.[10] Five ships were sunk. The destroyer USS Warrington capsized with a loss of 248 men.[5] The minesweeper YMS-409 also capsized. The United States Coast Guard Cutters Bedloe and Jackson sank off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.[5] Between the two 47 men were lost.[11] The Coast Guard Lightvessel Vineyard Sound was sunk.[c] The entire crew was lost.[11]
New Jersey
New Jersey was one of the hardest hit states. Nine were killed and 390 were injured. More than 400 homes were completely destroyed with about 3,000 damaged.[6] Atlantic City got the worst part of the storm. Heavy flooding and high winds caused a great deal of damage. Reports said there were tidal waves 50 to 60 feet high.[4]
1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane Media
Aerial view of the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Norfolk, Virginia in January 1944. Norfolk and the Hampton Roads area were among the hardest-hit areas in Virginia.
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Notes
- ↑ The current system of alphabetical names for hurricanes was not in use until 1979.[7]
- ↑ Pilots reported the winds were so strong it sheared rivets from the wings of the aircarft.[9]
- ↑ US Navy divers found the sunken wreck with it's funnel and masts sheared off.[12] The last message from the 12 man crew was "our anchor has holed us".[5] Sports divers found the wreck 19 years later and determined the anchor had ripped through the hull.[12]
References
- ↑ "Atlantic Hurricane of 1944". NOAA. Archived from the original on December 22, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "1944- Great Atlantic Hurricane". Hurricanes: Science and Society. University of Rhode Island. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- ↑ Emil R. Salvini, Jersey Shore: Vintage Images of Bygone Days (Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2008), p. 164
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kathleen O'Brien (August 28, 2011). "Hurricane Irene's predecessor: The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944". NJ.com. New Jersey On-Line LLC. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Rick Schwartz, Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States (Springfield, VA: Blue Diamond Books, 2007), p. 180
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Leanne Vuksanic (14 September 2012). "NJ History: The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 Battered NJ on Sept. 14". New Jersey 101.5. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- ↑ "Tropical Cyclone Naming". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Great Atlantic Hurricane - September 1944". NOAA/ National Weather Service. Retrieved 16 April 2015.[dead link]
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "The Hurricanes of the 1940s in Virginia and North Carolina". National Weather Service, NWS Eastern Region Bohemia, NY. Archived from the original on 26 December 2004. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- ↑ America's Most Vulnerable Coastal Communities, eds. Joseph T. Kelley; O. H. Pilkey; J. A. G. Cooper (Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, 2009), p. 84
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Patrick Watson, Watson's Really Big WWII Almanac, Volume 2 (Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2008), p. 291
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Vineyard Sound Lightship". Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.