ollars in damages. 60,000 left homeless. This was the ninth major hurricane to have struck New England since record keeping began.
Tornados, Charleston, South Carolina – Sept. 29, 1938: From 6:45 A.M. to 8:30 A.M, five tornados at once descend on Charleston and surrounding area, causing widespread damage and causing extensive casualties and injuries.
Great Floods and famine, China – Sept.- Nov. 1939: A series of giant floods inundate northern provinces destroying grain and rice crops. 25 million rendered destitute, large swaths of land under 10 feet of water. Subsequent famine kills 200,000 over the next 3 months.
Giant Cyclone over Michigan and northern plains – Nov. 11-12, 1940: Furious cyclonic storm sinks 69 ships in Lake Michigan, kills 73 in the state of Michigan.
Cyclone hits Bengal, India – Oct. 16, 1942: Powerful cyclone with 150 mph winds devastates the province of Bengal. 40,000 are killed when the storm hits Calcutta. Many villages completely flattened.
Violent typhoon, Philippines – Dec. 17-18, 1944: 150 mph winds ravage the Philippines, catching the American Third Fleet with 100 foot waves, sending three destroyers to the bottom, drowning 790 sailors and damaging all 28 surviving ships.
Eleven powerful hurricanes strike Florida between 1944 and 1950.
Massive flood on Columbia River – May-June, 1948: Aggravated by three days of intense rainfall , below normal temperatures delay snow-melt in nearby mountain ranges, resulting in a flood in excess of one million cfs in Columbia Valley. Flood erases the city of Vanport Oregon, causing 19,000 to flee with only the clothes on their backs.
Hurricanes – 1951: 12 large hurricanes in the season, the worst being Charlie on Aug. 17. 125 mph winds destroy every wooden structure on the island of Jamaica and break apart dozens of ships, damage is so widespread that recovery takes five years.
Hurricane winds, dike failure, destructive floods, Netherlands – Feb. 1, 1953: 100 mph winds breach 50 dikes, flooding a half-million acres, drowning 1,835 people and a half-million head of livestock and poultry. The same storm kills hundreds of people in England and Belgium.
Hurricane Carol, East Coast USA – Aug. 26-31, 1954: 135 mile per hour winds smash into Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. 60 dead, thousands of homes smashed, cars tossed into the sea, giant sea waves, $460 million in damages.
Typhoons sweep over Japan – 1954: 15 powerful, deadly typhoons sweep over Japan in one year. A typhoon on Sept. 26 has winds so powerful, they capsize a 4,300-ton ferry boat, dumping more than 1000 passengers into the sea and drowning them all.
Hurricanes Connie and Diane, east coast USA – Aug. 4-18, 1955: Back to back storms pound east coast of U.S. Particularly hard hit are the Carolinas, Delaware, New York, Virginia, Maryland. 125 mph winds, ten foot swells, torrential rains, 310 dead.
Hurricane Janet, Gulf of Mexico – Sept. 22-28, 1955: Monster-sized hurricane with 114 mph winds devastates vast areas of coastal Mexico and Honduras over a six day period. Over 500 killed and 60,000 left homeless. Every one of 10,000 coconut trees are snapped off by the wind on Swan Island. Hundreds of people die from bites of poisonous snakes washed into villages by overflowing rivers.
Massive blizzards, extreme cold in Europe – Feb. 1956: 907 persons lose their lives to the extreme weather.
Typhoon Wanda, Yangtze area of China – Aug. 2, 1956: Following the worst heat wave in a century, massive typhoon devastates multiple provinces, killing 1,960, destroying 38,000 homes.
Powerful hurricane, Grenada – Sept. 22, 1956: Winds up to 127 mph destroy every building on the island of Grenada, leaving some 250 dead and 40,000 rendered homeless.
Hurricane Audrey – June 27-30, 1957: Early season hurricane with 105 mph winds catches people in the bayous and lowlands of Texas and Louisiana off guard. The town of Cameron, Louisiana is utterly demolished when water from the Gulf of Mexico surge 25 miles inland. Storm steamrolls north to O