September 21

As if East Hampton didn’t have enough problems with traffic after Tourist Season is over, on the 21st in 1938, a hurricane made landfall on the Eastern End of Long Island. For lack of a better name, it has come to be called The Great Hurricane of 1938. Not a particularly creative name. As far as hurricanes go this particular one was o.k. I suppose. Additionally calling it a great hurricane seems to be catering to its self-image just a bit too much. I don’t think the storm was out there seeking validation of its self-worth. Calling it great isn’t nearly as good as giving it a person’s name because then people are limited on their merchandising opportunities, but what the heck can you do? It gets the point across. In 1938, Hurricanes were not graded the way they are today but estimates are that this Hurricane came ashore as a Category 3 storm. The storm tore Long Island apart in two places: at the Napeaque Strip and at the Shinnecock inlet. The Army Corps of Engineers chose to keep the Shinnecock inlet open, which explains the system of locks there today. People had rather gotten used to Montauk being part of the Town of East Hampton and the opening of the island at Napeaque was allowed to close thus reuniting Montauk and East Hampton. The National Weather Service puts East Hampton and its neighbors in a 100 Year Zone. According to their best estimates, every hundred years a storm will come along that pretty much wipes the Island clean. Unfortunately, the prevailing thought is that the Hurricane of 1938 was not that storm so my guess is that the East End is long overdue for a storm that makes Hurricane Katrina look like a gentle spring shower.