[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 125 (Friday, September 18, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        WHAT HAPPENED IN QUOGUE?

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                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 18, 1998

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, the storm wave broke through the dunes at 
several places in Quogue; at the western end; at what is now the Surf 
Club; and at the east end, east of the Quogue Beach Club.
  As the ocean came over at the Westhampton Beach-Quogue line, it took 
with it the Quantuck Beach Club, five of six houses east of the club, 
and severely damaged the Kennedy houses. The inlet thus created was 
called the ``Quantuck Inlet,'' and said to have been 400 feet wide and 
20 feet deep at its deepest point. Ocean waves poured through this 
inlet into Quantuck Bay and the Quogue Canal, washing north nearly a 
mile. The flood waters tore out the Causeway between Quiogue and Quogue 
Wildlife Refuge. As the water surged up Assop's Neck Lane, the Church 
of the Atonement rose up off its foundation and headed toward Quogue 
Street, but was held fast by a row of small trees.
  The effects of the surge were felt in the southwestern part of 
Quogue, as flood water reached a depth of about a foot at Quogue Street 
and Jessup Avenue, and higher in the more westerly portion. This water 
subsided rather quickly, after the surge was over.
  As the ocean came over at the Surf Club, the club was damaged. The 
Beach Lane Bridge was destroyed by a combination of flood waters and 
large pieces of debris, and the entire area on both sides of the canal 
and up Beach Lane was badly hit. Ogden's Pond overflowed, ruining the 
second nine holes of the Field Club golf course. The lower part of the 
Shinnecock Yacht Club collapsed, leaving the second story loft on the 
ground.
  Up in the village, high wind and driving rain took down trees, 
utility poles and power lines. The Quogue School was used as a 
temporary emergency shelter for some storm victims. Quogue residents 
lucky enough to be on high ground, opened their homes to others.
  The storm spared the dunes between the two bridges, Beach Lane Bridge 
and Ocean Avenue Bridge. The latter structure was not destroyed, but 
badly damaged. Two Quogue young men in their early twenties, Charles 
Lucas and Tommy Fay, were drowned while attempting some rescue work.
  The far easterly end of the Dune Road suffered severe damage, with 
the Quogue Beach Club half washed away, and several houses east of it 
completely wrecked.

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