[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 125 (Friday, September 18, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1763-E1764]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              RIA DEL BENE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 18, 1998

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following for the Record.

       I opened Ria's Beauty Shop on Friday the thirteenth of May, 
     1938. We had the hurricane on Wednesday the twenty-first of 
     September 1938. My friends said, ``You had to open your shop 
     so we could have a hurricane!'' Fifty years later I still 
     operate the shop, and the Hurricane of 1938 only proved the 
     strength of the people of this area.
       I remember that day so very well, when we all joked about 
     the winds and the bad weather, and the excitement mounted 
     because this was a new experience. Our immediate family--
     Grandma, Mom, Dad, my brother and I were already living on 
     Sunset Avenue. I ran down the Main Street to look over the 
     area behind the Weixlebaum Building, and I saw the water 
     being drained out of the Moniebogue Canal. I thought it was 
     so strange! Not being knowledgeable on tidal waves, I didn't 
     realize that the water gets sucked out, then comes back in a 
     tidal wave. The water started coming up over the meadows 
     south of Main Street, so I ran across the street to Grimshaw 
     building (where Norma Reynolds is now). I ran to the top step 
     so I could see better.
       I soon realized that things could be very dangerous, as 
     Main Street was getting flooded. I ran home and watched the 
     water flow past the back of our property like a river. That 
     was the old ``Toot'' White property, where Ici Aussi, La 
     Shack, Alfonso, and Westhampton Custom Floors and Rug shops 
     are now. We watched on the corner of our property, as the 
     wind picked up a large wild cherry tree, at least one hundred 
     years old, pulled it up, roots and all, and then laid it on 
     the ground like a huge bouquet. Only when the call went out 
     for volunteers to rescue people, did we face the reality that 
     this was a tragedy, not an adventure.
       My brother, Dannie, was among the many young men who went, 
     and unfortunately, it was not just rescue, it was recovering 
     bodies. The Westhampton Country Club was a temporary morgue, 
     and the bodies were brought in there. So many people that we 
     knew and loved had lost their lives to stay with their homes, 
     rather than to leave in time.
       My brother and I were born in the old Platt Building (where 
     the Hampton Chronicle was later housed, operated by John King 
     for many years, now part of it is Magic's Pub). In 1922, we 
     moved to the old Ben Owen house (no longer standing), next to 
     Mike Parlato's Garage (now Marakesh). The part of Main Street 
     is the lowest, and the flood water was six or seven feet high 
     in all those buildings.

[[Page E1764]]

     We were fortunate to have moved to Sunset Avenue in 1932.
       That night of the hurricane, many of the storekeepers on 
     the south side of Main Street, the Weixlebaums, the 
     Ambrosinos, and Gelston Walter, brought their important 
     papers and cash boxes to our house, because we were the first 
     household not hit by flooding. Many people from Main Street 
     came up to stay at our house. I don't know how Mom managed 
     it, but she could always get more food together, no matter 
     how many people appeared.
       It took awhile for us to realize the enormity of the storm 
     and its devastation. Through it all, my grandmother kept 
     saying the rosary, beseeching God's help. He must have been 
     listening, because it's amazing how fast everybody set about 
     cleaning up and repairing, getting back to the normal routine 
     of opening their shops, and doing ``business as usual.'' The 
     greatest thing about the disaster was the helping hand that 
     each person gave the other. The saddest thing was the loss of 
     life.

     

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