My Experience in the Hurricane of September 21, 1938

Ruby Watrous (Ledyard, Connecticut)

 

[Note:  Ruby Watrous was 18 years old at the time of the 1938 Hurricane.]

 

IT WAS A never-to-be-forgotten day and is written on the mind of anyone who was in it with indelible ink.  It doesn’t bring to mind a great pleasure, as some memorable days do, but horror to a great many people.

We had several days of rain preceding the hurricane, and the rain ended the night after the storm.  We awoke to find a clear sky the next day (Thursday, September 22).

My father did his peddling, as usual, on Wednesday and came back home to get Ellis and me, and then we went to New London.  My mother didn’t go with us as Aunt Emma Martin came down to stay all day, and mother stayed with her.  Aunt Emma was up from Mississippi then, making the Shafers a visit, and mother hired her to do some sewing. 

As I remember now, the wind had been quite strong all morning and was blowing quite a bit in New London while we were there.  I bought my mother the brown cloth with rust figures, which dress she wears now.  I was to meet my father at G. M. Williams; and the wind raced me along the street while I was waiting, but it was no worse then than we had seen often.  We stopped at the Spicer Ice and Coal Company on the way back and got a piece of ice.  It was the first time I had been there.

We came home and ate our dinner a little late.  The wind had blown a great many apples off the trees, and my father told Ellis and me to pick them up before the cows got them.  The wind was blowing harder then but nothing serious.  I took the kitten, Toots, with me, and she seemed terribly scared of the wind.  Margie, Jessie, and Freddie came for a few minutes while I was out there.  I finally carried the kitten to the house because she was so scared and wanted me to hold her all the time, and I couldn’t work holding her, either.  One old rotten apple tree had fallen by that time, also.  My father had gone to Uncle Ross’ garage to have some work done then.

Well, I didn’t get back to the orchard to pick up any more apples because when I reached the house with the kitten, some of the arborvitae trees had fallen.  My mother came out of the house, and we stood in the little barn awhile.  Finally, Ellis came from the orchard because he couldn’t work any longer picking up apples.  We realized then that it was an unusually hard wind.

We finally had to go in the house, and I really don’t know just what happened next.  It was raining quite hard by that time, and the wind increased, lashing the rain against the windows.  I imagine some of the smaller buildings fell first, but we were kept busy mopping water where it came in around the windows.  We could see trees falling everywhere by that time.  I imagine this was 3:00 or 3:30 o’clock.

We were nearly exhausted from running from one room to the other and up and down stairs to get different views of the out-of-doors and to see some recent destruction because trees and buildings were falling all the time.  Of course, we were kept busy mopping water, which was coming in streams around the east windows.  The brooder houses and other small buildings were down by that time, and we noticed the brooder house containing baby chicks was turned over.  My mother wanted to go and try to save the chicks, but we didn’t dare have her.

I should say the storm reached its worst around four and stayed the same until perhaps 4:30.  About this time, we noticed the two large spruce trees were bending terribly, and we thought they would both blow over.  The next time we saw them one had blown over, and the top to the other had snapped off because the roots to the one had held, although the ground is raised considerably. 

Finally, there came a sort of snap, and one sash in the east window of the living room blew in.  The wind scattered vases, breaking one, pictures, etc.  We grabbed the fireboard as the first thing in sight and nailed that over the window, which served the purpose well.  Several other panes of glass were out by this time. 

About this time Aunt Emma happened to go in the pantry, and she saw the large shed roof sail thru’ the air and land in the lot north of the house.  Then, the wind shifted into the south and kept us busy mopping water around the south.  The air was so full of rain and leaves we couldn’t see far out of the windows.

My father was at Uncle Ross’, but when he saw Uncle Ross’ barn fall, he became so worried about us that he walked home.  Of course, the roads were so blocked then, he couldn’t use the car.  He kept in the open fields and reached home safely, but we were surprised to see him in the worst part of the storm.  He said the henhouses were down, and I forgot to mention the silos.  He noticed the brooder house was turned over but forgot that the brooder was in there, so it wasn’t long before we saw flames, and the house burned chickens and all.  But, there was nothing we could do.  It was a weird sight I’ll never forget.  Those long tongues of flame, each of which was taking a tiny life, against the black fury of the storm made a horrible yet fascinating picture.

The storm had abated somewhat by this time, and dad and Ellis had to get outside and try to keep the other buildings from catching fire.  Aunt Emma saw a spark enter the house, but no damage came from it.  Some of the farm implements did burn, but they were near the brooder house.

The worst of the storm was over then, tho’ the wind was furious yet.  We were all in the west room when Lou, Harry, and Raymond came to see that Aunt Emma was safe.  Raymond happened to be there at the first of the storm, and he looked to be more scared than I was.  Aunt Emma went back with them, and the wind nearly blew her along.  It did take her sunbonnet off and blew it into the chicken pen, but Lou caught it.

The whole family came out to see what damage had been done and to view the changed landscape.  I was worried about my hens but found them safe, and I was also worried about my pigs but found them safe after a strenuous search through fallen trees.  The cows came home, all safe after wending their way through the falling trees.

Then I took a walk down to the out lot, and I tore my dress sadly.  I saw Hazel’s house was all right, and I came up the road by Comries’.  The boys were all out walking around the road too amazed to comprehend what had happened.  Wendell had slept thru’ part of the storm lying on the hay in his barn.  Mary went up and met my mother near the corners, and it was raining again by the time I reached them.  We had just gotten a load of grain, and the henhouse had blown over and left it to the storm so Wendell came up with his wheelbarrow and water-proof blanket and then put the grain in the little barn.  The hens and pullets were left homeless.

My mother and I were in the house then fixing the windows with pasteboard so it wouldn’t rain in.  We were fixing the window in the west bedroom upstairs, and I remember watching a lurid, bright light in the southwest, but I didn’t know until later that New London was afire.  Quite a bit of Bank Street burned, doing a lot of damage.

We were still upstairs when Harry and Harold Shafer came in downstairs, and they had just returned from Quakertown and found everyone safe over there.  Mr. Meyer’s house had burned during the storm,  Aunt Grace’s barn was down, Aunt Lucy’s pantry had blown off, and worst of all the hall was wrecked. 

In the meantime, Philip Crandall had been along searching for his little sisters who hadn’t been home from school.  He found them safe at Marian’s so he went back home, and dad let him take a flashlight.  He said Grandpa’s barn was wrecked, and Max’s and Chauncey’s barns were flat.

Of course, they didn’t get the chores done very early, and perhaps at 7 o’clock Esther and Elbert came.  Their house was off the foundation, and they had no place to stay.  Mabel and Bernice had worked that day, but they decided the mill wasn’t safe so they left early and started for home in the car.  Esther and Elbert were with them as they came from school in the bus and waited in the car for them.  The water in the river rose until it covered Main Street Mystic, but they drove on until trees blocked their way so they stopped at B. D. Williams and waited until the worst of the storm was over.  Then they walked home, over trees and wreckage.  They were tired and ragged and didn’t know whether Merilyn and Alvan were safe.  We got them a good supper, and Esther and Elbert stayed here all night.   Mabel, Bernice, and Merilyn stayed at Hazel’s.  Elmer had found Merilyn at Coopers’, where she had gone when she didn’t feel safe in her house alone.  She went down there in the worst of the storm.

We went to bed late that night, and I slept soundly; but my mother said she nearly had hysterics as she thought of all the destruction in the past 12 hours.  I do remember of awakening and hearing the large trucks clearing the roads, especially Route 84.  The sky was clear then.

We awoke the next morning to see a different world, and we hardly felt at home.  The trees had been in full leaf and now were nearly bare.  All green vegetation was brown from the salt, which had blown in from the ocean.  I remember of picking some wild grapes, and they tasted as salty as they have if salt had been sprinkled on them.

Ellis and Elbert arose early and looked around some.  We did the necessary work that day, and we did clean a little of the havoc in the house.  My father did the work out-of-doors under handicapped circumstances, as all chickens and hens were out,  and they found quite a few crushed under the wreckage. 

Esther was very tired, but we did go over to Quakertown, and such a sight as met our eyes.  Everything was so changed, and the old hall did look so lonesome.  Only three days before, I sat in there never dreaming it was the last time.  The road was covered with light wires, and the trees were cleaned enough for one-way traffic.  It all seemed a nightmare to me.  Our crossroad was in terrible shape, so we went over and back through the woods.  Several of the barns around Quakertown were blown down or nearly demolished.  I remember that day seemed like a dream, and I could hardly believe everything was so changed.

The next day, Friday, Esther and I went to Mystic with dad.  I didn’t care to go around much after that because everything was congested, and so many streets and roads hadn’t been opened.  It was so tiresome.  We had to move so slowly, and we held up so often.  We had to take so many detours, and the streets were only one way.  Hearses were seen frequently in the congested traffic.  We met one on Cottrell Street, which was a one-way street that day, and we were held up to let the procession go by.   The hearse was so large it could hardly pass, and it took some maneuvering for it to pass.

Ellis and Elbert went with my father and mother to Mystic the next day to see the sights away from home.  Mystic was about all I ever saw of the hurricane area except at home.  It was perhaps a year later before I saw any of the shore resorts, etc.  Of course, considerable construction work had taken place, but many of the marks were still there.

Elbert left in a few days and stayed with Albert Chapman.  Esther and I went over to  Marian Harvey’s one day to see Arnold.  He was born the night of the hurricane, and of course, she couldn’t get the doctor.  Lucy Watrous and Elmer’s wife, Alice, had gotten there before the storm was so bad, and they were with her.  Alice was there when we went over, and she seemed so tired with so much hard work to do.  Marian wanted Esther to come after Alice left so Esther finally went over there and stayed, and Mabel and Merilyn came here and stayed.

Bernice had already gone to Elsie’s.  Mabel helped Mary through the day and stayed here nights.  Esther got so tired over at Marian’s, and I went over one day and helped her.  Arnold was very, very cute and seemed to be different than his sisters.  Alice and Lucy Watrous came to see Marian that day.

We didn’t get any mail for a week and had no telephone service for months.  I remember the first day we got our mail, especially because I received a letter from Wendell Ison’s wife, then Tolliver, and it was the first time I had a letter from her.  I didn’t know her name before that, either.

Mabel, Esther, and Merilyn finally went over to Aunt Grace’s after staying here nearly three weeks.  I missed the girls so much.  Our life was somewhat back to normal then, but our buildings were wrecked.  Chickens were all at large.  Some of them had stolen nests and hatched chickens later, so we had some hurricane chickens after all.  We didn’t get our chicken houses built.  Ralph Crandall worked here some, but they weren’t finished by Thanksgiving. 

The weather was unusually warm that fall and abnormal conditions kept the chickens from freezing when naturally it would have been much too cold for them to stay out-of-doors.  Why, we had lilac blooms at Thanksgiving and a great many other flowers bloomed because the leaves were blown off as they are in winter, and then the warm weather following made them think it was spring.  We thought the lilacs wouldn’t bloom next spring, but they did. 

We were having such warm, clear weather before Thanksgiving and were wondering when this weather would end.  We didn’t have our henhouses finished so hadn’t gotten all our poultry in.  Thanksgiving we went to my grandmother’s as usual.  Mary and Uncle Norman were up this time to dinner.  I remember my mother, Mary, and I went for a walk, and it did feel a little chilly in the afternoon.  Uncle Norman and Mary stayed for supper, and we all got ready to leave for home a little later.  Uncle Norman went out a little before that, and when he came in he said it was snowing and freezing on the car and windshield, so they started right away.

We started just a little later, and it felt so cold.  The windows were covered with ice, and the wind was blowing.  It seemed nearly as bad as the hurricane to me.  The weather had changed so suddenly, and I thought of all that poultry that was roosting out-of-doors on the walls, bushes, and in the trees.  We were all so tired, and it seemed so terrible riding home in that storm.  My mother wanted to do something about getting the poultry in that night; but it was so late, and we didn’t have any place to put them.  My father didn’t know what to do, so we went to bed.

We got up quite early, and the ground was covered with snow, the trees were laden with ice, and a cold chilly wind was blowing.  It was still snowing and was drifting.  The lilac blooms, green grass, and leaves were covered with ice and snow; and it had all happened so suddenly when only a few days before it had been like summer.  We all went out and began catching chickens.  Some of them were so weak they couldn’t live long.  Their comb wattles, and even their eyes, were covered with ice, and icicles were hanging from their wattles.  Their bodies were covered with snow.  It felt so cold we could hardly keep warm catching them.  We took them down and put them in the basement of the little barn where we keep pigs, as we had no other place to put them.  We were glad when we had them all caught and under cover, and I guess they were, too.  Quite a number of them died, but it was surprising how well they survived.  I had some of the hens that year, and they did well, considering. 

Well, we finally finished the henhouses, have new brooder houses now, and they have built a new silo and put one of the old ones together.  I guess it will be years before we will be back to normal on the farm with all the fallen trees and all.

[Edited by Mildred Allen, 2009]