The Blizzard of ’78 was an angry storm that started with near 60 degrees, rain, thunder and lightening. The barometer fell and with it the temperature.
Storms seems more frightening in the black of the night and this storm proved it to be the truth. The winds rose, the house groaned with the clawing and bashing wind, a howling, growling and starving rabid beast. There was a heartless beast ‘out there.’
Daylight came after what seemed like days itself and still no relief from the raging wind, but the snow was at least now visible in the ‘white’ of daylight. White. White was all to be seen. Pushed sideways and relentless. The drifts deepened as the storm raged on for days.
Electricity was on for some, same with the telephone lines. CB radio was working, in contact to Little Washington Township for aid with those that had no heat, snowmobiling them to safety. Then we discovered a car was buried all but about three inches of antenna in a 15-foot snow drift just south of our house.
It was determined the people were safe, they had left the car early in the storm and walked to their destination: Ralph Hardy’s place (the old Channel Farm). They had filled the car with gasoline at Daughtery’s Gas Station as the car gas tank leaked. (They said they did not want to run out).
There were snowmobilers traveling North on Little Washington to aid folks to the north of me. The CB radio users warned them of the buried car just in time. Road graders and bulldozers had to be used to dig out the buried car.
My husband Mike, my brother Larry and a neighbor (Tom Burdette) walked from house to house asking if anyone needed anything from the old Moody’s Store. They had a list and it took them hours to get there and back. One colorful neighbor asked for a carton of cigarettes and a fifth of whiskey. He had to make do with a carton of Marlboro’s and a six pack.
Tom fell into a snowhole chest deep and they had trouble getting him out. He was a very tall and wide guy and that added more time to their trek in 10 below temperatures.
I dug a snow cave for my girls. It was very warm inside and they giggled at how they could take off their coats and not be cold. It had two rooms and and two openings. I did not block the entryways that night as the winds kicked back up, my girls cried the next day when they discovered their snow house was drifted in.
I made a batch of homemade hot cocoa with fresh whipped cream for them to ease their sadness while I cried inside for them.