Good afternoon everyone. A while ago, I finally got around to finishing my reading of the book, Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States: A Surprising History from Jamestown to the Present by Rick Schwartz. I had made several earlier posts about this book in the blog, and still plan to do a complete review on it as well. A former resident of Edison, New Jersey, who now lives in the Washington, D.C. area, Schwartz does a great job of explaining to those in the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast that these storms can happen here. In addition, he points out that these storms don’t have to be the major hurricane monsters that we see crashing into the shorelines in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Texas.

They can be torrential rainmakers like Hurricane Camille (1969) became when it went through Virginia as a tropical storm, or Hurricane Agnes (1972) as it went through Pennsylvania. They can also be tornado spawning storms like Tropical Storm David was in 1979. Time and time again, Schwartz makes the point that these storms still cannot be underestimated, especially when their tremendous winds have died down, and the threats along the coast have diminished. Furthermore, Schwartz points out that people have short memories when it comes to tropical storms and hurricanes, and that they continue to build on flood plains, and relax building code standards.

I found this book to be a tremendous resource in the sense that it provides a whole catalog of storms from the Colonial period of the 17th Century to the present. Many of the pre-modern storms I’ve added to my list of historic hurricanes. There is also a chapter on Nor’easters, which of course, is much more common in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast than Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. This book is just chuck full of information.

On top of all the reports and stories about the storms themselves, there are sections on Hurricane Preparedness and Safety, The National Flood Insurance Program, Weather Watches and Warnings, the Beaufort Wind Scale, Retired Names of Destructive Hurricanes, Location and web site URLs for National Weather Service Forecast Offices in the Mid-Atlantic, Directory of State Climatologists Offices in the Mid-Atlantic, and a Glossary of Terms.

Like the back cover of the book says, it “offers a window to the past, a crystal ball to the future.” On top of all the facts and information, there are incredible accounts of survival and rebuilding discussed along with actual photographs of the damage from these storms. It is a book that makes you think, and discover new facts about certain storms that you never knew before. A classic example is Hurricane Camille, which is better known as the second Category Five Hurricane to come ashore along the United States mainland in Mississippi. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, it was the worst disaster to affect the Central Gulf Coast.

However, did you know that Camille was also Virginia’s deadliest natural disaster? Yes, it was. Although the storm produced a 24 foot plus storm surge at Pass Christian, Mississippi that swept away many. The bulk of the 291 deaths attributed to the storm happened in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where 151 people died including many in Nelson County thanks to the tremendous flooding spawned by Camille’s torrential rains (27 inches in 5 hours on August 19-20th, 1969). Schwartz goes on further to state how the community of Nelson County came together to rebuild, and press onward in the wake of the disaster.

Schwartz gives a similar account when it comes to Hurricane Agnes, which brought similar devastation to Northeastern Pennsylvania. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover, and I think you will too, especially if you live anywhere from New Jersey to Virginia. I will have a complete book review on this soon, but get the word out, it is a fine read, and one that I recommend to everyone.