Conventional wisdom back in 1938 was that hurricanes don't strike New England--so no one took any notice of bad weather heading their way. Folks went to work, had fun, slept and did a variety of other mundane things that you'd normally do. This episode of "The American Experience" is about the tragic storm that DID strike this part of the northeast United States and the damage it caused.
As far as hurricanes go, this storm was bad--with between 600-800 killed and, in today's figures, many billions of dollars of damage. However, it was not as bad as some other big hurricanes--such as the one that destroyed Galveston at the beginning of the 20th century (also, by the way, the subject of an episode of "The American Experience"). But, to put it in perspective, Hurricanes Fifi, Mitch and several others killed many, many multiples of people compared to the New England storm.
Overall, a mildly interesting episode of the series. However, as far as storms go, this one lacks the punch, so to speak, of several other storms--and so, unless you are a New Englander, it's not among the more interesting shows by "The American Experience"--but it is well-crafted.