Impact
When Diane brought heavy rain through New England, flooding was immediate and devastating. Compounding the problem was the fact that Diane was, and still remains, the wettest tropical cyclone on record for the Northeast. Many small rivers rose above their banks from mountain run-off and flooded towns throughout New England. Flood records were numerous throughout the northeast, and damage was high. Many areas in Connecticut were flooded once more, including Putnam, Winsted and Waterbury, as well as East Granby, where a former housing subdivision sitting where Grandbrook Park is today was completely swept away by the floodwaters.
At a creek near Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, fifty people drowned when they were unable to escape the rising water.
The Northampton Street Bridge crossing the Delaware River from Easton, PA to Phillipsburg, NJ sustained major damage when floodwaters, 44 feet (13 m) above normal water level, topped the roadway of the bridge on August 19, 1955. Repairs carried out by Bethlehem Steel over the next two years made the bridge usable but the flood damage left a readily apparent sag in the center span that remains today.
An estimated 184–200 people died because of the direct effects of Diane (on top of the 25 killed by Connie).
$831 million (1955 USD) in damages is attributed to Diane (although separating damage from Hurricane Connie and Hurricane Ione is difficult). Accounting for inflation, Diane is the 12th costliest hurricane in U.S. history (as of 2005), with total damages of $7 billion (2004 USD).
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Diane
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