Providence, RI - USS Leyte

Today, April 26, 2008 I was watching a TV weather report and there was a report that there is a pending hurricane in North Carolina. I thought about my experience in R.I. in 1954 and decided to see if there were any post on the internet that referenced hurricane Carol. I was so happy to find your post and to know there will be a book published. I can't imagine that I never thought to look this up before.

In March of 1954 I was one month away from my 17th birthday and a newlywed. I had married a Navy guy who was stationed on the USS Leyte, an aircraft carrier. We were living in a small flat on Lennox Avenue in Providence. The morning of the hurricane my husband was on the ship. I was working at Shepherd's Department store in downtown Providence. We lived just a couple of blocks from the bus stop and it was pouring down rain. I had on rubber boots, a raincoat and of course an umbrella. I did not wait long for the bus, but in that short time I got very wet. When I got to work I dried off the best I could and started my shift. My station was close to the main entrance and I could see that all morning the rain continued to pour like I had never seen in my life.

I worked up until my lunch break and went to the third (or maybe fourth) floor to the lunch room. Some of my lunch buddies were already there and I joined them. We sat next to a large window and the rain was coming down so hard that we could see nothing else. I commented to my friend Ruthie that I had never seen rain like this before, so why didn't we walk down to the main entrance and look to see if the streets were flooding.

We walked out the door onto the sidewalk and looked both ways down the street. I saw the most awesome sight I had ever seen. As I looked to the right, I saw a wall of water that appeared to be one and a half to two stories high. The water was tossing cars around as if they were matchbox cars. The pressure from the water and/or storm was popping the large plate glass windows out into the water. The mannequins from the shops were floating by and at first glace we thought they were human bodies. We ran screaming back into the store and just seconds after we got back in, the power went off. I had never seen such blackness in my life. I was new to the store and did not know the layout from memory.

My friend, Ruthie, took my hand and told me to hold on and she would get us back to the lunch room. We walked up the escalators and by the time we got to the lunch room some of the maintenance men already had some battery operated lighting in the room. We were told to all stay in the room and not to leave. I stayed for several hours and was terrified that perhaps my husband had tried to get to me and he could be one of the one's that had drowned as horrific stories were being told of many drownings.

I sneaked out of the lunch room and went down to the first floor. There were some battery operated lighting that cast errie shadows across the area. I remember looking down some stairs and seeing dozens of suitcases floating in water in the basement. Everyone that was around the area seemed to be so busy doing their assigned duties that no one saw me slip out the front door. We had already been told there would be no busses or cabs running and that we would be spending the night at the store. I was so distraught that I did not use common sense and I left the store on foot.

I do not remember how far we lived from downtown, but it was several miles. I walked the bus route all the way home. There was lots of debris along the way. Also, downed power line were everywhere. I stepped over many of them. I was terrifed when I finally made it home and my husband was not there. By this time it was dark. There was no electricity or water in the apartment. I foolishly thought all I had to do was walk down to the nearby store and buy candles and water. Of course, when I got there they were all sold out of candles, water batteries, etc. I went back home and found a flashlight and read a book all night. Right after daybreak the next morning my husband made it home. He told many stories about the devastation he saw along the way. He said that the ship went out to sea and road out the storm. He said the waves were so high that they washed completely over the ship.

In a few days, just as the cleanup was getting things back to normal, another hurricane (I believe it was Diana or Dianne) hit. This one was not as bad.

The best I can remember we did not have electricity or water for more than a week. We did not have a TV, so the news we got was mostly from the radio and newspaper. Because I was seventeen years old then and I am 72 years old now, I have forgotten most of the stories of death and destruction. However, there was one story that has stuck with me for the past fifty five years. It was about a family that was attending a family reunion at the beach. The best I can remember there were about a dozen of them. As the water got higher and higher in the beach house, they climbed to the roof. The water continued to rise and all but one of them washed off and drowned. I have never been able to get that one person out of my mind when I remember hurricane Carol.

In the fifty five years since, I have had/seen devastaion in my life, but nothing that equals hurricane Carol.

Hopefully, my story will be a part of the history of "Carol" and is now documented into the vast web.

Thanks for your contributions. As I sign off, I will go back to your web page and read all the other stories.