Remembering "The Perfect Storm"

We are coming up on the anniversary of "The Perfect Storm," a real life story of fishermen who lost their lives in a harrowing storm. The story of the Andrea Gail lives on in a book written by Sabastian Junger and a movie of the same name. They featured the families and friends left behind in Gloucester this morning on The Weather Channel so I wanted to take a minute to share the story.

A TRUE STORY OF MEN AGAINST THE SEA
"She's comin' on, boys, and she's comin' on strong," radioed Captain Billy Tyne of the Andrea Gail off the coast of Nova Scotia soon before boat and crew disappeared without a trace. Junger gives us the Halloween storm of 1991 and its effect on the sword fishermen of Gloucester, Massachusetts, with daring high-seas rescues, a history of the fishing industry, the science of storms, and candid accounts of the people whose lives the storm touched.

An enormous extratropical low is creating havoc along the entire Eastern Atlantic Seaboard in this infrared image at 7:00 EST on October 30, 1991. Labelled the "perfect storm" by the National Weather Service, the storm sank the swordfishing boat Andrea Gail, whose story became the basis for the currently best-selling novel "The Perfect Storm" by Sebastian Junger. A little-known and bizarre ending came to this monster, which came to be known as the Halloween Storm. To tell this incredible story in its entirety, the Satellite's Eye Art Gallery spans two subject headings (Extratropical Cyclones and Hurricanes). State by state damage summary reveals the widespread and extensive damage caused by the storm and accompanying seas. Beach erosion and coastal flooding was severe and widespread, even causing damage to lighthouses. Hundreds of homes and businesses were either knocked from their foundations or simply disappeared. Sea walls, boardwalks, bulkheads, and piers were reduced to rubble over a wide area. Numerous small boats were sunk at their berths and thousands of lobster traps were destroyed. Flooding was extensive invading homes and closing roads and airports. Former President Bush's home in Kennebunkport, ME suffered damage as windows were blown out, water flooded the building, and some structural damage also occurred. Even inland areas suffered major damage. The Hudson, Hackensack, and Passaic Rivers all experienced tidal flooding, and high winds brought down utility poles, lines, tree limbs, and signs in several states.
The most extensive damage occurred in New England where federal disaster areas were declared for seven counties in Massachusetts, five in Maine, and one in New Hampshire. Off Staten Island, two men were drowned when their boat capsized. Other fatalities occurred when a man fishing from a bridge was either blown or swept off in New York and a fisherman was swept off the rocks at Narrangansett, RI by heavy surf. Offshore, six lives were lost when the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat, sank. Total damage in the Halloween Storm, as it came to be known because of its date, was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.