Abstract
This series contains negatives, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks created by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.
Administrative/Biographical History
The hurricane of 1938:
"It killed more people than the San Francisco earthquake and the Chicago fire combined, The hurricane of 1938 struck suddenly on September 21, and by the time the storm was over, 680 people were dead and thousands more homeless; downtown Providence had been flooded twice; 72 million feet of power lines were down, and 88 percent of New Englanders were without electricity: countless trees were uprooted, and 175 churches damaged- six of them utterly destroyed. Though the coast of Rhode Island was hit hardest, a survivor in New Hampshire's White Mountains reported that only in "certain shell-torn woods in France" during the Great War had he seen worse devastation."
Goudsouzian, Aram. (2004). The Hurricane of of 1938. Beverley, MA: Commonwealth Editions.
The blizzard of 1978:
"The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 was a catastrophic and historic nor'easter that brought blizzard conditions to the New England region of the United States, New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area. The "Blizzard of '78" formed on February 5, 1978 (a Sunday) and broke up on February 7, 1978. Snowfall occurred primarily between Monday morning, February 6 and the evening of Tuesday, February 7. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts were particularly hard hit by this storm.
Boston received a record 27.1 inches (69 cm) of snow; Providence, also broke a record, with 27.6 inches (70 cm) of snow; Atlantic City broke an all-time storm accumulation with 20.1 inches (51 cm). Nearly all economic activity was disrupted in the worst-hit areas. The storm killed approximately 100 people in the Northeast and injured around 4,500. The storm also caused over US$520 million (US$1.86 billion in present terms) in damage."
Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_blizzard_of_1978.
