These photos are of the intersection of Hilltop Road and Valley Road in Levittown. The black and white shot is from approximately 60 years ago, while the color version was snapped this year.
Thank you to Jo-Ann Martin Fink (Division Avenue class of 1966) for providing the vintage photo which features a 1949 or 1950 Crosley station wagon. She lived at 1 Hilltop Road and was one of the first Levittown babies. The intersection is only a few blocks from the school.
Her family moved into their house on October 15, 1947, about two weeks after the first residents unpacked. She was born on December 2, 1947.
These striking photos show the flooded intersection of Hilltop Road and Valley Road
Click on photos to enlarge
At the time of landfall on far eastern Long Island and the eastern Connecticut coast, the sustained winds in Carol were around 110- mph, with gusts in the 125 to 135-mph range. Like a devastating 1938 hurricane, Carol accelerated northward form Virginia to Long Island. The combination of 110-mph sustained winds and a forward speed of near 40-mph... produced some of the strongest wind gusts ever measured in the North Atlantic states. Montauk Point Lighthouse reported gusts to 120-mph.
Along the eastern Connecticut coast, from Saybrook Point to Groton Long Point, wind gusts over 100-mph were reported. Wind gusts of 120 to 135-mph blasted across Southern Rhode Island as the state was hit squarely by the damaging eastern half of the tropical cyclone.
The name Carol was used again in the 1965 season, and was planned for use during the 1969 hurricane season before it was replaced with the name Camille. Due to serious destruction during 1954, however, the name will never again be used for an Atlantic hurricane. Carol was the first Atlantic hurricane name in history to be retired.
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Thank you to Jo-Ann Martin Fink (Division Avenue class of 1966) for providing these photos. She lived at 1 Hilltop Road and was one of the first Levittown babies. Her family moved into their house on October 15, 1947, about two weeks after the first residents unpacked. She was born on December 2, 1947. Happy Birthday, Jo-Ann.
