Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955
In the tradition ofIsaac s StormandThe Johnstown Flood,Mary A. Shafer sDevastation on the Delawareis a meticulously researched, compellingly written account of a major meteorological catastrophe. The stories of innocent people swept away in raging flood waters some of them taken by surprise in the middle of the night or carried off while would-be rescuers extended helping hands will haunt me. The prose is crisp, the photos mesmerizing. Anyone who watches Storm Stories on The Weather Channel will find this an electrifying read. --David Laskin, author ofThe Children s BlizzardandBraving the ElementsHalf a century before the record-setting hurricane season of 2005 brought Katrina, Rita and Wilma to the United States, Connie and Diane hit the East Coast. "Devastation on the Delaware: Stores and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955" is the story of Hurricanes Connie and Diane and the record-setting flood they triggered on the Delaware River.  The tale of destruction is told in more than 400 pages of narrative nonfiction with maps, diagrams and some 100 historical photographs.  Author Mary A. Shafer deftly sets the stage for the coming disaster, almost making the reader feel the hot, dusty air of early August. While farmers dreamed of crops salvaged from a dry growing season by Connie's rains, Diane quickly twisted those hopes into nightmares. Shafer writes about real people as they rushed to climb faster than the Delaware's rising waters during three terrifying days and night of August 18-20, 1955.  Shafer does not forget weather fans in her narrative, and provides storm data, meteorology (orographic enhancement, the Fujiwara effect, and the Bermuda years), and weather history. Particularly intriguing are the author's descriptions of the state of meteorological operations in the mid-1950s and the inclusion of actual U.S. Weather Bureau (which is now National Weather Service) bulletins issued as Connie and Diane approached and made landfall.  Shafer's descriptions of scientific concepts are general but clear, and all are scientifically sound.  There are a couple of items that might confuse the reader. Rainfall maps on pages 12 and 13 show the rainfall total for both storms, a fact that is not immediately apparent. The rainfall total maps for the individual hurricanes on pages 34 and 79 claim to give rainfall totals in milliliters. For meteorological purposes, rainfall is almost never measured using volumetric units, although for hydrological, flood hazard mitigation and rainfall chemistry studies, these units are fairly common. Shafer's source is a series of original hand-drawn maps that were hard to read because of age. The conversion factor to inches is correct for millimeters, and if the mapped values are treated as such the reader can get the correct figures.  Shafer's writing is vivid, and like many authors of creative nonfiction, she chose to write about past events in the present tense. From her first sentence "Friday dawns red, if you can see the sun at all" Shafer places nearly every historical event in a present-day context. There are a few awkward exceptions to this rule when Shafer employes the past tense for events that occurred before the 1955 flood. The flow of time during the three days and three nights covered in Shafer's book would have been clearer and easier to read if she had restricted her writing to the present tense.  For this reviewer to recommend a regional weather history book, it must pass three tests: Is the book a valuable source of information for future researchers? Can the weather hobbyist enjoy the work without getting bogged down in local geography and scientific terminology? Is the meteorology, no matter how sparse or general, standing on a sound scientific foundation? For "Devastation on the Delaware," the answer to all three questions is yes.  (NOTE: This review was written about the first edition of the book.) --Steve Horstmeyer, Weatherwise MagazineIn the tradition ofIsaac's StormandThe Johnstown Flood,Mary A. Shafer'sDevastation on the Delawareis a meticulously researched, compellingly written account of a major meteorological catastrophe.  The stories of innocent people swept away in raging flood waters some of them taken by surprise in the middle of the night or carried off while would-be rescuers extended helping hands will haunt me. The prose is crisp, the photos mesmerizing. Anyone who watches Storm Stories on The Weather Channel will find this an electrifying read. --David Laskin, author ofThe Children s BlizzardandBraving the Elements