Now It's the Midwest's Turn

A "killer blizzard"strikes

Enough already. First the winter of '78 clobbered the East with heavy snow (Boston, 21 in.; New York, 16 in.), the West with drenching rains and high winds, the South with frigid temperatures and a score of tornadoes. In Massachusetts, the state's $9 million snow-removal budget is already exhausted. California drought officials traded in their sun visors for umbrellas and began dispensing flood-control information. Motorists in Georgia shuddered at the foreign squeal of back tires spinning on ice.

Last week it was the Midwest's turn.

Roaring through the upper Midwest, the Great Lakes and the Ohio River Valley, from the Appalachians to the Canadian border, a blizzard blasted 31 in. of snow across Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. With winds clocked at up to 100 m.p.h. (hurricane force is 75 m.p.h.), the wind-chill factor hitting --50DEG and record-low barometric readings, the National Weather Service classified the big blow as an "extratropical cyclone." That scarcely did justice to this great white whale of a storm. An NWS spokesman in Detroit called the blizzard "one of the worst, if not the worst," in Michigan's history. Kentucky Governor Julian Carroll said it was "the most devastating snow accumulation in 100 years." Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes also deemed the storm the worst ever in his state--"a killer blizzard looking for victims."

Across its 1,000-mile-wide path, the storm found many. About 100 people died as a result of the violent weather, many of them trapped in cars on drift-blocked roads. Wisconsin's Dodge County Traffic Chief Vic Gherke warned motorists: "If you go out, even for an emergency, you're on your own. You can expect no help." In Ohio, where more than half the roads were closed, 7,700 people were rescued from snowbound cars. Governor Rhodes declared a state of emergency and called out 2,500 National Guardsmen to help with rescue efforts. President Carter declared Ohio a federal disaster area. With that, soldiers from the 101st Airborne were rushed in from Fort Campbell, Ky., to help the exhausted Guard. Ten helicopters lifted hundreds of motorists to safety.

In Michigan, Governor William Milliken had to call out the National Guard --first to get him to his office in the capitol. Once there, he, too, declared a state of emergency. Earlier in the week, he had proclaimed Snowmobile Week in the state, but the races at Traverse City had to be canceled: 20-ft. drifts covered the track. Other forms of transportation in the region did no better. Dozens of airports were closed, including those in Indianapolis, Columbus and Detroit. Chicago's O'Hare Airport, the world's busiest, shut down for only the fourth time in its 23-year history.

The blizzard was economically devastating, too. Detroit's auto-industry analysts estimated potential losses at $130 million, with 300,000 workers idled and production schedules snafued. Utilities were hard hit, paying overtime to crews repairing downed power lines, which left more than 150,000 in Ohio and 160,000 in Michigan without heat or electricity. The Chicago Black Hawks, who average about 10,000 for their home hockey games, had only 527 fans cheering their 5-0 victory over the Cleveland Barons. About the only beneficiaries of the blizzard were hotel and motel operators, who filled their rooms and lobbies with suburbanites unwilling to risk the long plow home.

If last week's erratic weather outside the Midwest is any indication, the region should now brace itself for floods. Along the Eastern seaboard, January thaws (the New York City temperature rose to 57DEG) and heavy rains sent creeks and rivers over their banks, inundated some towns, caused power failures in Washington, D.C., and left hundreds of cars swamped everywhere.

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