Sam Smith - 2014 will be the 60th anniversary of Hurricane Carol, one of the worst storms to hit Maine. According to Wikipedia, about 150,000 people were left without electricity and telephone service. 1,545 houses were destroyed and another 9,720 were damaged. Approximately 3,500 cars and 3,000 boats were destroyed. Damage totaled about $460 million making it the costliest hurricane in the history of the United States, at the time.
When Carol hit, my parents became worried about a pregnant tenant renting one of their houses, so when the calm eye of the storm arrived, my father and I headed up the road to clear a path to town. The deep woods concealed what was happening above and it was not until trees began suddenly toppling that we realized the storm had resumed. We got out just before the way back was blocked. It was a pointless task anyway. Before it was over, Carol blew down a couple of hundred trees. It would be two days before the road to town would be cleared.