Mary Cummings

Hurricane in the Hamptons, 1938 Mary Cummings

The 1938 hurricane, the most severe and terrifying storm to hit Long Island in living memory, struck on September 21, a day that had dawned bright and fair in the seaside communities between Westhampton Beach and Montauk Point. Unaware of the storm whipping itself into a frenzy just miles away, village residents were going about their normal tasks when it struck, killing more than 30 and wreaking unprecedented destruction before nightfall. In Hurricane in the Hamptons, 1938, the story is told in more than 150 photographs, most of them taken by stunned residents in the immediate aftermath of the storm.