Connie & Diane Battered Connecticut 56 Years Ago

After a spectacular day yesterday, you'll be wise to grab the umbrella today. We can expect a shower or thunderstorm from this morning through this afternoon as more humid air advances toward southwestern Connecticut. Today's high temperature will reach the lower 80s, which is just about normal for this time of the year. However, our weather was anything but normal 56 years ago today. That's when the second of two powerful hurricanes hammered southwestern Connecticut.

Long-time area residents will never forget August of 1955 when two of the most memorable hurricanes --- Connie and Diane --- battered the Northeast. Hurricane Connie soaked New England with torrential rains on August 13, 1955. Then, just five days later, on this very date, Tropical Storm Diane followed suit creating massive flooding not seen since the 1930s. Take a look at the front page of The Bridgeport Telegram from August 20, 1955.


The combination of Connie and Diane yielded rainfall totals close to 25 inches in some areas, resulting in unprecedented flooding. Nearly all of the major rivers in the lower Connecticut Valley exceeded flood stage. Some rivers rose more than 20 feet over their banks. Read the Valley News archive of daily weather events from August of 1955 to gain a better understanding of the power of those two August hurricanes!

While the two hurricanes affected the entire Atlantic coast, Connecticut suffered the most damage. For example, of the 180 lives that were lost, 77 were in Connecticut. Of the 680 million dollars in property damage, over 350 million dollars occurred in Connecticut. Over 200 dams in New England suffered partial to total failure. Many of these were in the area immediately south of Worcester, in the Thames and Blackstone headwaters. Here is a photo of Winsted, Connecticut, virtually devastated following the flood.
 
If August was not bad enough, two months later, a four day storm dumped an additional 12-14 inches of rain in southwestern New England. This event was not as widespread as the August storms, but record flood levels were achieved in some locations of the Housatonic and Hudson River basins.

Our weather picture will remain unsettled into the start of the weekend with more widespread showers and thunderstorms expected Friday. Saturday will bring partly sunny skies with a chance of an isolated thunderstorm, and more of the same is likely Sunday. At least the weather won't be nearly as historic or as memorable as it was 56 years ago today.

Paul