A Rare Hurricane

On August 31, 1954 Hurricane Carol made landfall. The storm ravaged Eastern Connecticut, all of Rhode Island, and most of Eastern Massachusetts. Winds were recorded at 80-110 mph at the Blue Hills Observation. Using the Safir Hurricane scale, it would have been a category 3. Hurricane Carol caused widespread damage, including Bethlehem Shipyard on Marginal Street, and destroyed the spire of the Old North Church. In Massachusetts, over 150,000 thousand lost power, phone lines were downed, more than 3500 cars and 3000 boats were destroyed. All in all the storm caused 175 million dollars in damage, which would be 1.6 Billion dollars today. Due to the severity of the storm, the name Carol was suspended from use in 1954. It was used again in 1965, then permanently retired, being replaced with the name Camille.