Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938

Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 by R.A. Scotti recounts the devastating hurricane that hit New England in September 1938. To tell you the truth, I didn't know a thing about this hurricane, so I learned a lot.

The U.S. Weather Service had barely been formed at this time, and relied almost completely on firsthand sightings of storms. This hurricane began forming off the coast of Africa and moseyed across the Atlantic, gathering speed and force. The Weather Service employees in Florida put all the available data together, informed the public, and then watched as the
behemoth swerved and missed their state on its way north. The next existing weather bureau was in Washington, D.C. Only one person put all the information together show more correctly, but he was a new guy, so his conclusions were dismissed. This hurricane was going back out to sea where it would lose steam. No one needed to worry.

What the hurricane did was swing back out to sea and feed off the warm summer water--and that's when it turned into a monster of size, strength and speed. With no warning whatsoever, it hit the western edge of Long Island, causing plenty of damage there, but when it continued on and slammed into eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island--tragedy. Coastlines were completely remodeled. Entire towns were wiped off the face of the earth. An entire way of life was obliterated.

When looking through the photos included in this book, my whispered "Oh, my god!" was totally inadequate. From a beach lined with three-story Victorian beach homes to...pristine sand. New London, Connecticut almost burned to the ground. Dozens of mills were totally demolished and never rebuilt. The power of Mother Nature never ceases to awe me.

Scotti blended the firsthand accounts and all the facts skillfully. I didn't want to put the book down. One of the survivors most of us have heard of: Katharine Hepburn. As she fought her way through the rapidly rising water, she looked back to see her family home float away as if it were taking a leisurely stroll down the street. show less

3.5* rounded up because I appreciated the in depth discussion and maps of the location...familiar to me but now well known. I first heard this book mentioned by Chris Wolack on Book Cougars podcast. It may have been a year ago. I was immediately interested to read more detail about this storm. I recall my parents telling us about it, but they were not personally impacted. I wish I could hear their memories now with this book as a backdrop. Some of the personal stories in the book are well known and I have read elsewhere, however, the author gives much more context. The author includes information about previous monster storms and brings weather prediction up to date (published in 2003). Although I knew there was no prediction of the show more storm, I had no idea that it was so suddenly upon the coasts of NY, CT, RI and MA with no warning. Includes historic photos, firsthand accounts, archival research. The narrative was not organized in the neatest way, but the attempt to keep the suspense up was there for sure. show less

Fantastic book. Wide scope of history provided and well told. Has historical meaning for me, personally. I wasn't part of the history directly, I had relatives who took part in the clean-up effort. I also lived in the Hamptons and regularly marveled that Shinnecock Bay was formed by a hurricane.

It was the Perfect Storm. But instead of raging far out in the Atlantic, the Great Hurricane of 1938 left a wake of death and destruction across seven states. It battered J. P. Morgan's Long Island estate, wiped out beach communities from Watch Hill to Newport, flooded the Connecticut Valley, and flattened Vermont's prized maples.Traveling at record speeds, the storm raced up the Atlantic Coast, reaching New York and New England ahead of hurricane warnings and striking with such ferocity that seismographs in Alaska picked up the impact. Winds, clocked at 186 mph, stripped cars of their paint. Walls of water 50 feet high swept homes and entire families out to sea. Sandwiched between the Great Depression and World War II, the storm had a show more profound impact upon a generation. 'The day of the biggest wind has just passed,' the newswires read the next day, 'and a great part of the most picturesque America, as old as the Pilgrims, has gone beyond recall or replacement.' Drawing upon newspaper accounts, the personal testimony of survivors, forecasters, and archival footage, SUDDEN SEA recounts that terrifying day in gripping detail. Scotti describes the unlikely alignment of meteorological conditions that conspired to bring a tropical cyclone to the Northeast. A masterful storyteller, Scotti follows the trajectory of that awful wind-and recovers for posterity the lost stories of those whose lives, families, and communities were destroyed by the Hurricane of 1938. show less

Non-fiction. 4.25 stars.
This was a very well written account of the 1938 Hurricane. This was long before we had an effective system of tracking or storm predicting. It was also a time when an individual, could remove an essential bit of information from the prediction laid out for the public. One man decided to change the word hurricane to gale. This could well have contributed to the enormous loss of life.
Nothing could have stopped the devastation that hit the coast of New England. The story is conveyed without drama, but certainly not without compassion or poignancy.

An extremely detailed and well researched book, written from a geographical perspective following the course of the hurricane up the coast. Tales of devastation and survival are mixed in well with scientific and factual detail. I enjoy history, anyone's history and I enjoy reading about natural disasters since find them a humbling experience. We like to think as a species we control our environment, no, the earth only needs to sneeze to tell us who's boss.

I would recommend to anyone who enjoys books on disaster and survival.

An engrossing account of an amazing natural disaster.
Effectively told.I did have some trouble keeping track of characters as they moved through the day, but otherwise, loved it.