The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1938-10-06
III. A. Falk
Tells of Severe
Hurricane
Home On Long
Island Not Damaged
Terrible Destruction
INTERESTING LETTER
108 Automobiles
In Bay-Hoisted Out
BY Tug Boats

A recent letter from H. A. Falk,
former supintendent of schools in
this city, to d. B. Caughren, stat
ed that the hurricane in the east
was an unusual occurrence, as the
last destructive storm on Long Is
land occurred in 1916, 122 years ago.
Although their home at Sayville,
Long Island, was unchanged, de-
struction caused by the severe hur-
ricane was in evidence all about
them. In telling of the storm Mr..
Falk wrote as follows:
Prior to the big storm it had rain
ed for several days. The day Of the
storm Bob and drove to New York
City and we watched it from the
window in an office of the CONSOLE
dated Edison Co., at No. 2, Irving
Street. To us it just looked like a
hard rain with strong wind, and
we had no idea of what was taking
place about our home.
Bob was to return by train, while
I stayed in New York and left for
Albany the next day. We did not
finish our business until too late for
Bob to catch the Sayville Express,
so went to the Penn station with
him and he took the sos for Say
VILE. I noticed bulletins of aban-
doned trains due to the storm, but
thought it was due to inundated
tracks on the North Shore trains,
no South Shore trains being aban-
doned. However, I thought Mrs.
Falk would worry II Bob did not
get home for supper so attempted
to call up from the hotel to explain
that he would be home on the tbs.
only to get the answer that there
was no phone service. Even then
I didn't worry much because Long
Island Is so covered with trees that
q broken limb is no unusual cause
Of disrupted service.
AT $50 my phone rang and a
neighbor Of ours called, telling me
that they had had q severe hurri-
cane and our phone and all others
in Sayville were out, but Mrs. Falk
was safe, but that she was worry
ing and wondering where Bob was.
He finally got home at 10 o'clock
and had a terrible time trying to
find a way home through streets
with hundreds of trees and tangled
wires blocking every road to the
Bay. Mrs. Falk called me the next
morning, on the only phone work.
ing, to tell me our place was I'M
harmed except for a foot of tide
water in the basement.
I then drove up to Albany that
afternoon, detouring through the
Bronx and the Westminster Park
ways, with most roads impossible
due to flood waters. From Albany
I drove to Saravic Inn, in the Adir-
ondacks, to attend the annual sup
erintepdent's conference. Mrs. Falk
wrote me about the storm and I
got the story in the papers, of
course. I wished I had gone back
home on Thursday as 1t was a real
thriller.
Permit me to bore you with de-
scription of our location. We are
separated from the ocean by bay.
four miles across to Fire Island
beach, visible from our front porch.
This beach is strip Of sand about
a city block wide, which forms the
outer boundary of the bay and pro-
tects us from the ocean. The beach
directly across the bay from us. is
known as Cherry Grove. It is where
Sayville people have summer cot
tages and where we go by ferry for
surf bathing in the ocean. This
strip Of sand dunes Is enough to
protect the cottages that are built
on the bay side in normal times, but
the hurricane leveled off the dunes
and washed the cottages into the
bay and wiped out landmarks so
that most of the people are unable
to find the spot where their cot
tages stood.
Westhampton Beach, where most
Of the fatalities on Long Island
occurred, has only narrow bay,
several hundred feet wide separat-
ing 1t from the ocean, the Fire Is
land Beach joining the mainland a
short distance beyond to the east.
They got the most of the storm and
the destruction Of property was
terrific. We were there yesterday,
Sept. 10th, and cannot begin to
describe 1t. Suffice It to say, that
boats were washed up on shore for
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