East Coast Hurricane of September 15, 1904

On September 14, 1904 a hurricane made landfall in northeastern South Carolina and moved very rapidly over the coastal plain, emerging near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay 12 hours later. From there it moved along or just over the lower Delmarva Peninsula and skirted the southern New Jersey coast before landfalling again over Long Island and near the Connecticut/Rhode Island border less than 12 hours after emerging back over the ocean near Norfolk. Very high winds and heavy rains occurred over a short duration due to the extremely rapid movement of the Hurricane. In just 24 hours the storm moved from the South Carolina coast to near Boston.

The storm was first noticed north of the West Indies and warnings were issued, but substantial property damage and some loss of life occurred. A peak wind of 100mph was reported at the Delaware Breakwater during the early morning hours of the 15th. Hurricane force winds also occurred along the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts where considerable loss of life was reported as well as considerable damage to beach front property and many wrecked boats. Damaging winds were observed as far north as Eastport, Maine. Rainfall greater than 5 inches occurred in parts of the mid-Atlantic states and heavy rains caused significant flooding and washed out roads across most of New England, except for extreme southeastern New England and eastern Long Island where lesser amounts of rain were observed to the east of the storm track.