
New Bedford’s 1999 Brush With Historic Hurricane Floyd
As the Blizzard of '78 is to snowstorms, the 1938 Hurricane is the storm to compare all other hurricanes against. The Blizzard of '78 was 47 years ago, so you'd have to be in your 50s now to remember it.
The 1938 Hurricane was 87 years ago. Not many in our area have first-hand memories of the Great New England Hurricane of 1938. My now-deceased parents and grandparents filled me with stories from their personal experiences with the deadly and destructive storm.
Being that Massachusetts dangles out there in the Atlantic Ocean just a bit, we are susceptible to ocean storms along the SouthCoast. Through the years, we've had our share of hits, misses and near-misses.
One major cyclone to make it this far north was Hurricane Floyd, which paid a visit in September of 1999.
The Buzzards Bay National Estuary Project recalled Floyd as "passing far to the west of Buzzards Bay and having only tropical storm force winds."
"The remnants of Hurricane Floyd affected only areas prone to high beach erosion in Buzzards Bay communities," the site said.
Floyd's effects in Massachusetts were minor. The storm produced wind gusts of 60 to 70 miles per hour, reaching 76 mph at the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier. The mountains of western Massachusetts and Cape Cod received the worst of the wind from Floyd.
Hurricane Floyd was a massive Category 4 storm, triggering the fourth-largest evacuation in U.S. history. Some 2.6 million East Coast residents in five states faced mandatory evacuations.
Forecast to strike Florida, Floyd took a turn, devastating the Bahamas before hitting the Cape Fear area of North Carolina as a Category 2 storm. Floyd weakened considerably. as it moved parallel to the coast and into New England.
Floyd caused extensive damage in New England, with severe flooding due to heavy rain. Massachusetts received between six and 10 inches of rain, while Rhode Island picked up two to five inches.
Portions of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine received over six inches of rain.
Due to the widespread impact of the storm, the World Meteorological Organization retired the name Floyd from ever being used again for another North Atlantic tropical cyclone.
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Gallery Credit: KATELYN LEBOFF
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