page_title: 1815 New England hurricane
section_title: Rhode Island
hierarchical_section_title: 1815 New England hurricane / Impact / Rhode Island
caption_attribution_description: English: Hurricane water levels are marked at Old Market House Providence
context_page_description: The Great September Gale of 1815 is one of five "major hurricanes" to strike New England since 1635. At the time it struck, the Great September Gale was the first hurricane to strike New England in 180 years.
  After striking on Long Island, the hurricane caused major damages in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Rhode Island suffered the worst damage, as the storm surge flooded towns along Narragansett Bay up to and including Providence.
context_section_description: The "Great Storm" (or "Great Gale"), as it was known there, hit Providence, Rhode Island on the morning of September 23. From about 10:00 A.M. to noon, the storm delivered a storm surge that funneled up Narragansett Bay where it destroyed some 500 houses and 35 ships. Dozens of ships were deposited on the streets of Providence. The bowsprit of the ship "Ganges" was smashed into the third story of the Washington Insurance Company building. The Second Baptist Meeting House was destroyed. Most of the buildings on the east side from south of the Market House to India Point were destroyed.  At India Point, houses and wharves were destroyed. Both the Washington Bridge and the Central (Red) Bridge were uprooted from their piers and destroyed.
  The rain appears to have been saturated with salt. The leaves on trees which were not blown away were covered with a white salt coating that resembled a light frost. Even houses turned white.
  A line on the Old Market Building marks the 11-foot (3.4 m) storm surge that was unsurpassed in the city until the 1938 New England hurricane, which brought a 17.6-foot (5.4 m) storm surge. There is still a worn plaque on the Rhode Island Hospital Trust building (built in 1917), along with a newer plaque showing the higher 1938 hurricane water level. At Matunuck, Rhode Island, sediment studies have identified the overwash fan of sediments in Succotash Marsh, where the 1815 hurricane storm surge overtopped the barrier beach.
  The financial loss was estimated at one and a half million dollars, one-quarter the total valuation of the city. Fortunately, only two lives were lost, both in India Point.
  After the storm, much of the Narragansett Bay area was rebuilt with higher riverbanks, raised wharves, and more durable building practices, to help protect against future storms.
caption: Water levels of the 1815 and 1938 storms are marked at Old Market House, Providence
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