Hurricane Carol strikes Boston.

August 31, 1954

The storm kills 68 people, generates winds of 100 mph, gusts of 135 mph, and causes more than $460 million in damage. The second-most devastating hurricane to hit the Boston area (after the Great New England Hurricane of 1938), it topples the steeples on the Old North Church and the First Church of Roxbury. A subsequent hurricane strikes Boston less than two weeks later.*

Sources
  • Massachusetts emergency Management Agency
  • Boston Herald