In the summer of 1976 a hurricane approached eastern Long Island, New York. Older residents recalled the 1938 hurricane which had claimed many lives and destroyed millions of dollars worth of property. Even the younger residents could remember the devastation wreaked by Hurricanes Donna, Carol, and others in the 1950s and 1960s. People took seriously the warnings of the National Weather Service; they battened down the hatches, stored bottled water, provisions, and candles in basements, and prepared for the worst. One man offered this account.

"When the hurricane hit, around dusk, the sky turned black. The swirling wind picked up dust and loose leaves and anything it could find, pelting the house. Sheets of black rain raced across the fields like an army of shadowy soldiers coming to overr…