The Hurricane of '38 (1993) [N/A]
Release Date:
November 17, 1993
Original Title:
The Hurricane of '38
Alternate Titles:
American Experience: The Hurricane of '38
The Hurricane of '38 (American Experience)
The Hurricane of '38: American Experience
The Hurricane of 1938
Genres:
Documentary
Production Companies:
Lennon Documentary Group
Production Countries:
United States of America
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 54
In September of 1938, a great storm rose up on the coast of West Africa and began making its way across the Atlantic Ocean. The National Weather Bureau learned about it from merchant ships at sea and predicted it would blow itself out at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, as such storms usually did. Within 24 hours, the storm ripped into the New England shore with enough fury to set off seismographs in Sitka, Alaska. Traveling at a shocking 60 miles per hour -- three times faster than most tropical storms -- it was astonishingly swift and powerful, with peak wind gusts up to 186 mph. Over 600 people were killed, most by drowning. Another hundred were never found. Property damage was estimated at $400 million -- over 8,000 homes were destroyed, 6,000 boats wrecked or damaged.