Hurricanes and Storms

August 27, 1991

Hurricane Bob Brings Harvest of Sorrow

Penelope Wilson
The shock waves of last week’s storm are still rippling through Island fields as farmers anxiously watch their crops to see the extent of the damage.
Hurricanes and Storms
Hurricane Bob
August 30, 1991

The Changing Island Face: A Storm’s Surgical Srike

Rachel Orr
Usually the brush is so think this time of year one can hardly bushwhack from the shore to the remnants of the Menemsha Hills brickworks.
Hurricanes and Storms
Hurricane Bob
Beach grass

1878

October 25, 1878

Vineyard Gales and Storms

Vineyard Gazette
Hurricanes and Storms
Rev, Joseph Thaxter, in some notes, speaks of a great gale and rain storm Aug. 12, 1778, which caused terrible destruction of trees and injured the corn more than had ever been known, producing the greatest scarcity of bread ever known in New England.
 
Also, he speaks of very heavy rain August 23d, 1806, followed by a violent east wind the next day, which beat the corn down to the ground and stripped off the apples from the trees, doing much damage.
 
October 18, 1878

The Storm: Destruction by Land and Sea

Vineyard Gazette
Hurricanes and Storms
Weather
A storm, the like of which in this vicinity the oldest inhabitant fails to remember, visited the Island last Saturday afternoon, and raged with steadily increasing fury till far into the night. On the morning of Sunday the appearance of the town was as if a light tornado had passed over it. Large trees were uprooted, chimneys “razeed,” fences down everywhere, windows in some instances forced in, a few old buildings utterly demolished, and the streets strewn with green leaves and branches wrenched from the unyielding trees.

1869

October 8, 1869

Surf at South Beach

Vineyard Gazette
Hurricanes and Storms

The storm of Monday was not very severe here. The surf at South Beach however, came up higher on the Plain than it was ever known to before by some two hundred feet. Quite a number of cranberry bogs around the Great Pond were completely submerged, materially damaging the fruit.

September 17, 1869

The Great Gale

Vineyard Gazette
Hurricanes and Storms
Weather
Wednesday, September 8th, will ever be memorable from the fact of the furious gale of wind which raged in this section of the country. In fact, the newspapers all agree that it was the most fearful “blow-out” old Boreas has had since the historic September gale of 1815; and they all with one accord, express the hope that our land may never again be visited with such another powerful manifestation of strength and fury of the elements.
 
September 10, 1869

Weathering the Storm at Railway Wharf

Vineyard Gazette
Hurricanes and Storms
STEAMER MONOHANSETT, Railway Wharf, Holmes’ Hole,
Sept. 8th, 1869, 7:20 P.M.
 

1867

August 2, 1867

Almost a Hurricane

Vineyard Gazette
Hurricanes and Storms

SEVERE STORM. - One of the fiercest storms of wind and rain ever known on this part of the coast, in the summer season, prevailed last Friday afternoon. The gale commenced between two and three o’clock and blew almost a hurricane until near sunset. The surf on the South Beach ran very high, many portions of the beach being entirely submerged. The boat-house of the Humane Society, located near the mouth of Mattakeeset Creek, was moved several feet from its position into the harbor by lodging against a high beach-hill. Fortunately we hear of but slight damage, or wrecks, along the coast.

Pages