1944 Great Atlantic hurricane

The 1944 Great Atlantic hurricane passed less than 10 miles from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on the morning of September 14, 1944, as a Category 2 hurricane.¹ It raced north and came ashore on Long Island late on September 14 as a Category 2 hurricane with 90-knot (104 mph) winds and a central pressure of 954 mb, per NHC's best track.^2,3 It made landfall again between Charlestown and Narragansett, Rhode Island, around 11 p.m., with 85-knot (98 mph) winds.^4,2

In North Carolina, the storm tide reached 5 feet at Hatteras, and hurricane-force winds destroyed 108 buildings and damaged more than 600 from Nags Head to Elizabeth City.¹ On the New Jersey shore it wrecked hundreds of homes and the Atlantic City and Ocean City boardwalks.⁵ Cape Henry, Virginia, measured 134 mph sustained winds 90 feet above the ground, and Hartford, Connecticut, had a 109 mph gust.⁶ In Rhode Island, a 10 to 12 foot surge flooded Narragansett Bay and the south shore, 701 homes and businesses were destroyed and more than 12,000 were damaged.⁴ NHC lists 46 deaths and $100 million in damage in the United States.⁶