There were plenty of hurricanes that hit the Northeast in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and earlier decades -- the difference is that the coastal areas weren't as built up or heavily populated back then. People were lulled into a false sense of security by the fewer major hurricanes that made landfall in the decades that followed. There is a reason that "hurricane lamps" and "hurricane shutters" were invented. In the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, being without electric power for a time wasn't as painful as it is today.
