Blizzard of 78'.....Where Were You?

[fishaholic18]

"Heavy snow tonight,tapering off tomorrow"

That's what the weather page of The Providence Journal said on Monday morning, Feb. 6, 1978.

Blizzard of '78: Storm statistics

Official snowfall: 28.6 inches at T.F. Green Airport, the National Weather Service measuring station. During the most intense 24 hours, 27.6 inches fell, a record dating to 1905.

Deepest Weather Service-listed unofficial snowfall: 54 inches, Woonsocket.

Least unofficial snowfall: 10 inches, Block Island.

Most intense snowfall: 3 inches/hour Feb. 6, 7 to 8 p.m.

Biggest wind gust: 58 knots, or 67 mph, Feb. 6, 8 p.m.

Duration: Began Feb. 6 at 10:10 a.m.; ended Feb. 7 at 10:44 p.m.

Deaths attributed to Blizzard: 21 (in Rhode Island).

Cars abandoned on Routes 95, 195 and 146: 1,950.

Abandoned cars towed from Providence streets: 3,000.

Drivers who spent first night in cars: 1,000.

Motorists rescued by Rhode Island National Guard: 2,968.

Children stranded overnight in schools: 900.

Shelters opened: 66.

Persons sheltered: 9,150.

Trips by National Guard ferrying doctors, nurses, medicine: 3,527.

Home, businesses losing electric power: 11,800.

U.S. military rescue force: 478 soldiers, 178 vehicles.

Pieces of equipment rented from Buffalo, N.Y.: 100.

City's initial estimate of snow-clearing force: 100 pieces.

City's later estimate of snow-clearing force: 8 pieces.

State of emergency declared: Feb. 6 at 5 p.m.

Providence reopened to business: Feb. 13

Cost to state: $6.6 million, expenses and lost taxes.

Total federal disaster assistance: $14,841,484.

Federal snow-removal aid: $4,272,116.

Food stamps: $7,665,768 to an estimated 90,000 people.

Lost wages, private sector: $30 million.

Workers who lost wages: 152,000.

Unemployment benefits paid: $8 million.

Homes damaged: 30.

Looting suspects charged: 25.