Back in the 50's when I was little..we spent a few summers in the Rockaways..The Rockaway peninsula ..south of NYC..forms the southern barrier of Jamaica bay..It was 4 or 5 blocks wide at that point..One summer, a hurricane off in the Atlantic..don't rememebr the year, or the storm..exactly..pushes a storm surge towards the coast...obviously thee was no forecasting or satellites like we have now..the storm never hit..not rain or wind..but we woke up in the middle of the night when the water rose three feet...We spent the next two days on the roof..Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean were continuous..one body of water..it's hard to comprehend the power that can do something like that..let alone visualize a 30+ store surge..
I was "little" in the 50's too...grew up on Cape Cod (back when it really was a lovely place for real people to live)
...I know about storms that break through former beach barriers- it's frightening beyond words.
Hurricane Carol.