As they had done less than two weeks earlier, Greater Nashua residents were preparing for a hurricane on Sept. 11, 1954, that was named Edna. Damage and disruptions weren't as serious as caused by Hurricane Carol on Aug. 31.

Greater Nashuans must have wondered what they did to rile up the hurricane gods, if, that is, such things do exist. But here’s betting there were at least a few new believers in these parts by the time mid-September rolled around back in 1954.

These days, a lot of us have hurricanes on our minds, fed only, however, by images we see on TV and our devices or, if you’re of a certain age, in the newspaper. We watched last week as Hurricane Marco petered out before he even got going, but then all eyes turned to Laura.

As of Thursday, forecasters were saying that we here in the Northeast have a pretty good chance at getting some of the rain from what’s left of Laura by the weekend. That’s the kind of “hurricane” you can really appreciate: None of the high winds or disastrous flooding, but a good soaking rain to help ease this drought.

Those are the types of hurricanes we almost always see up here in this corner of the U.S., ones that may have once packed a wallop, wind-and-water wise but lost its punch pretty rapidly once it hit land.

Let’s face it: we Northeasterners don’t present a very welcoming environment for hurricanes. Sure, we’ve had some fairly robust storms that were once formidable hurricanes come our way, but – and if any armchair meteorologists out there know differently, feel free to correct me – the only two that were still “real” hurricanes when they got here were Carol, and the Hurricane of ’38 roughly a generation earlier.

A feature story on Hurricane Carol, written by the late Telegraph reporter and photographer Mike Shalhoup, appeared in the Telegraph in 1999 as part of the newspaper's century series. Shalhoup also took the photo that ran the day after the hurricane struck. These cars were damaged by falling trees in the city's Millyard.

Nashua native Sandy Axton – baby boomers may recall her as Miss Axton, the longtime teacher at the old Spring Street Junior High – was in 7th grade at the same school she would later teach at when Carol came to town.

But, she told me the other day, she doesn’t remember much about Carol’s visit, other than the kids teasing her sister, whose name happens to be Carol.

She does, however, have a story involving the ’38 hurricane, although it doesn’t come from memory.

Instead, she learned growing up that she was born on the eve of the ’38 hurricane, and family lore has it that her father had quite the adventure trying to make his way to St. Joseph Hospital to see his wife and their newborn daughter.

“He had to go around the big trees blocking sidewalks and roads, and climb over branches to get there,” Axton said.

Dean Shalhoup

Longtime reporter, columnist and photographer, is back doing what he does best ñ chronicling the people and history of Nashua. Reaching 40 years with The Telegraph in September, Deanís insights have a large, appreciative following.

I also asked another Nashua native and lifelong resident about his recollections of Hurricane Carol, but he, too, initially brought up the ’38 hurricane.

“I remember ’38 clearly,” Bob Sampson told me, even though he was barely 6 years old at the time.

The family lived on Oakland Avenue, a then-newly laid out street off East Dunstable Road. Sampson said he remembers his father coming home and commenting on the weather.

“He said ‘the wind is really blowing hard out there, I don’t know what’s going on,'” Sampson said. The next thing he remembers is sitting in the dining room looking out the window “and watching the roof on our neighbor’s garage lift up and blow away.”

The hurricane left downed trees and displaced items and a whole lot of debris behind, Sampson remembers. As is typical with hurricanes, the next day dawned sunny and pleasant, prompting his parents to send him off to school.

“They said, ‘OK, the storm’s over, the sun is shining, now go to school,'” Sampson said with a laugh. So he and his friend next door started out for the old Crowley School on Lake Street.

“Trees were down everywhere, no cars were moving, so we turned around,” Sampson said. “I told my parents ‘I don’t think we’re going to have school today,’ they said, ‘OK, stay home today but you go tomorrow.’

“Of course it was a week before we had school,” he said.

Back in ’54, meanwhile, stories about Carol, and then Edna, dominated the Telegraph’s pages for more than two weeks.

With the majority of residents without power, ice fast became a precious commodity once Carol subsided and people were able to get out and about.

Many headed over to the former Balcom-Nashua Ice Company at the corner of Pine and Lake streets next to Sandy Pond, where the Arel Manor is today.

According to the Telegraph, Balcom-Nashua “served as an ice supply center for hundreds of people, the majority of whom came here from nearby Massachusetts communities, where ice was unavailable.”

Hopefully the Bay Staters were polite, used their directional signals, and didn’t steal our parking spots.

The ice company’s manager, William Abbott of Hudson, ordered the ice rationed so everyone could get some. Employees were out straight from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. the day after Carol hit, Abbott told the Telegraph.

Firefighters, of course, were out answering call after call, not for fires but for water issues, trees and wires down, box alarms triggered by power outages and surges, along with something we wouldn’t see today: Toppled TV antennas left hanging precariously on wires or blown entirely from roofs.

One “antenna rescue” that should have brought official commendations to three firefighters involved the big antenna atop the Slawsby building at 90 Main St. becoming unmoored and left hanging “some 15 feet from the sidewalk,” the Telegraph reported.

The “ladder truck from Central Station was put into use to remove the antenna,” according to the story, which almost makes it sound like the ladder truck was only “put into use” now and then.

“Under the direction of Capt. James Brahaney, two firefighters reached the roof and cut the “guy wires,” and another man on the ladder took hold of the antenna, eliminating the hazard.”

Remember, this task was carried out while Carol was at, or near, her peak, not to mention the strong possibility that the wind could have blown the antenna into live wires while the men struggled to pull it off the roof.

Official commendations all around, I say.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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