The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great Long Island - New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike the United States. The storm formed near the coast of Africa on September 9, becoming a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, before making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on Long Island on Wednesday, September 21. It is estimated that the hurricane killed 682 people, damaged or destroyed more than 57,000 homes and caused property losses estimated at $306 million ($4.7 billion in 2024). Also, numerous others estimate the real damage between $347 million and almost $410 million. Damaged trees and buildings were still seen in the affected areas as late as 1951. It remains the most powerful and deadliest hurricane to ever strike New York State and New England in history, perhaps eclipsed in landfall intensity only by the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635.
The storm developed into a tropical depression on September 9 off the coast of West Africa, but the United States Weather Bureau was unaware that a tropical cyclone existed until September 16 when ships reported strong winds and rough seas 350 miles northeast of San Juan; by then, it was already a well-developed hurricane and had tracked westward toward the southeastern Bahamas. It reached hurricane strength on September 15 and continued to strengthen to a peak intensity of 160 mph (260 km/h) near the southeastern Bahamas four days later, making it a Category 5-equivalent hurricane. The storm was propelled northward, rapidly paralleling the East Coast before making landfalls on Long Island and Connecticut as a Category 3 hurricane on September 21, with estimated sustained winds of 115–120 mph. After moving inland, it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone and dissipated over Ontario on September 23.
