The Great Colonial Hurricane, which hit New England in August 1635, was a surprise to the Pilgrims, who knew nothing about such storms. More than 200 years later, the Great Hurricane of 1938 traveled 600 miles in 12 hours, again surprising New Englanders.

Colonial journals describing the 1635 storm have led experts to believe that the Pilgrims experienced a Category 3 hurricane. Journal entries describe trees blown down, houses destroyed, and the deaths of eight Native Americans.

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In 1938, the Great Hurricane walloped New York and New England. Storm tides of up to 25 feet were experienced across most of the Connecticut coast. In Narragansett Bay, a storm surge of 12 to 15 feet destroyed most coastal homes, marinas and yacht clubs. Without modern forecasting tools, Providence, R.I., had just a one-hour warning that a storm was coming. When the 20-foot storm tide hit the city, many people drowned at their workplaces. The winds blew so hard that there were reports of sea-salt residue on windows in Montpelier, Vt., 170 miles inland.

With forecasters universally declaring that we are in the midst of a more-active hurricane cycle, it is crucial that New England not get taken by surprise again. The six-state region must take steps to prepare and protect itself from disaster.

Nicholas Coch, a hurricane expert and professor of geology at Queens College, noted that it doesn’t take much to set a storm on a destructive path, 'just a minuscule shift of the storm's movement in the area of North Carolina - ''a fraction of a degree'' - could send a hurricane up through Providence and right into Boston.'