Hurricane and Flood — ^September 1938 



By W. H. HARRISON 



Editor's tiote: The following was presented by Mr. Harrison as 

 the closing address of a symposium on the effects of the hurricane 

 and floods of September 21, 1938 on transportation, power and com- 

 munication utilities. The symposium was held in New York at 

 the Winter Convention of the American Institute of Electrical 

 Engineers, Thursday, January 26, 1939. After the close of the 

 meeting a motion picture on the hurricane prepared by the Bell 

 System for the information of its own employees was shown. 



THE experiences of the telephone companies are naturally much the 

 same as those already described. The aftermath tally showed 

 that more than one-half million telephones were put out of service^in 

 the New England States about thirty per cent of the telephones in that 

 area. Through the destruction of toll lines, the storm temporarily cut 

 off telephone communication with the outside from over two hundred 

 towns. The total damage to telephone plant was in the neighborhood 

 of ten million dollars. 



The story of restoration — the immediate provision of emergency 

 services — the handling of emergency supplies in unprecedented quanti- 

 ties — the augmenting of forces locally to supplement the normal forces 

 — and the mobilization of forces from other areas — all are replete with 

 engineering interest and are very intriguing, but it would not be ap- 

 propriate to take the time to tell the story here. A few facts will give 

 you a sketchy idea of the situation. 



As to materials: 



3,500,000 feet of lead covered cable 

 54,000,000 feet of paired wire 

 7,000,000 feet of steel strand for guys 

 and supporting cables 



As to mobilization of forces: 



Local construction forces were expanded from 3,000 to 5,000. In 

 addition, 2400 highly skilled linemen, cable splicers and installers and 

 over 600 fully equipped construction trucks and other special motor 



218 



