Some debate rages about the 1938 being a strong 3 or a weak 4...
As far as only a 3, we are fortunate in some regards, because of the (relatively) shallow shelf as you come into Block Island Sound and offshore of that, the water isnt really Warm or deep enough to "feed" a Cat 5 Hurricane... picture our inner shelf vs. The Bahamas Bank area as far as depth and Temp...
But.. Mike is right, shoreline development has gone nuts since the 50's, and most of them have never seen a hurricane that struck directly (ie. passed to the west so we had the strong side in So Co..) Working as a coastal geologist who is on the SoCo beaches weekly I can tell you that the average homeowner has little trust or belief in what we have to say... All I can say is you should never find a knowledgable coastal geologist living on the barrier
As far as rebuilding after a storm, the regs say not if your lot becomes unbuildable if it is more than 50% destroyed... but as we saw in S.C. after Hugo in 1989, people rebuild bigger, higher (more stores) and closer than before
Ok, end ranting transmisson...
B