Thompson & Putnam, CT

i was 7 yrs. old in 1954, and i remember hurricane carol, seeing where my name is carol. we lived in thompson ct. at the time. my aunt and cousins lived in putnam, and my uncle was in the navy at that time and gone.

we drove to putnam to get my relatives and bring them to our house. i remember that while we were there in putnam, we started hearing explosions. i, as a child, thought we were being bombed.

i was so scared that a bomb was going to drop on us before we could get my aunt out. my dad reasured me that it was not bombs i was hearing, but the magnesium barrels in the river that was exploding. i wasn't to sure if i was buying that.

we got my relatives to our house in thompson with much diffeculty, but we made it. the next day we drove to high ground in putnam and the whole town was flooded. there were bridges that were washed away, railroad bridges collapsed, and everything was under water. my aunt was just getting reading to move to manahansit village in putnam, and that village was wiped out. it no longer was there. it was just a huge river. downtown putnam held up pretty well because it was on high ground, but the areas along the river was completely wiped out. forever changing the face of putnam.

i have seen many pictures of the devistation of putnam, but i do not not have any myself. the scariest thing for me was the magnesium barrels exploding from the mill on providence street, right on the river. i hope i'm not getting carol mixed up with gloria just a year later. being a child, that can happen

Editor's note: I don't think Carol was confusing Hurricane Carol with Gloria, though Diane hit the next year bringing a lot of rain, but only tropical storm winds. I questioned her about this and the exploding barrels, a fascinating incident. She wrote back:

"there was a lot of wind and rain. i can't believe my dad took us out in all that. the magnesium barrels, from what i understand, when magnesiun gets wet it will explode, thus the barrels were smashed against the rocks in the river. the more i think of it the more possitive i am that it was hurricane carol."

I supect it was as well- once again,I am learning that we coastal folks think hurricanes only bother us - and we miss the devastation caused by their tropical rains inland.