September 14, 1944 Tsunami: New Jersey Coast, United States

Location is representative of the New Jersey coast, and is approximate.

Very doubtful tsunami. Wave action may be attributed to the storm surge of the Category 3, September 14, 1944 hurricane, called "The Great Atlantic Hurricane." This hurricane slowly advanced up the East Coast of the U.S. incurring damage along the way. The hurricane caused 46 deaths and $100 million in damage in the United States, and sank five ships and caused 344 deaths at sea.

Woodworth (Reference #1743) cited newspaper accounts of unusually high waves that caused great damage over the New Jersey coast. Lockridge et al. (Reference #541) had earlier received this information from Woodworth and included it in their publication. They assigned each damaged area (19 New Jersey locations) as a runup record. However, these are not included in the NOAA historical tsunami database as they hurricane-related. The specific hurricane damage reports may be found online at Woodworth (Reference #1742).

Woodworth theorizes that there have been an offshore landslide or slump from an earthquake that occurred on September 5 in upstate New York, nine days before the hurricane landing. Lockridge et al. did not add significant commentary to this theory.