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Happy 30th to the 'Blizzard of '78'
Posted Friday, January 25, 2008, at 8:37 AM
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In case it slipped your mind, today is the 30th anniversary of the Blizzard of 1978. Just like other memorable events in history, many people remember where they were when the storm hit and what it was like to live through it.

The following is the personal account of Greencastle resident Russ Evans, who was living in Bainbridge at the time. His story is included on the National Weather Service website today.

"I remember driving home to Bainbridge from Crawfordsville, and barely making it. Later that evening my fire phone rang.

It was the railroad company. They were requesting our help in rescuing several people from an Amtrak train that had been stuck in a massive snow drift about 2 miles north of Bainbridge.

We met at the fire station and then went to the grain elevator by the tracks. From there a train engine took us about 5 firefighters at a time up to the scene. I remember the wind blowing at about 30-40 mph.

Someone said the wind chill was about -50. When I jumped off the engine I was up to my waist in snow.

We all made our way back to the car that everyone had been put into, there had been no heat for some time and the passengers were all bundled up in blankets. One of our firemen thought to cut a hole in the blanket and make a poncho.

We then escorted each passenger back to the engine were they were taken back to our fire station to be checked out by our town Doctor and an EMT. The next evening we got a call of the beach house on fire at Van Bibber Lake.

On a good day we could make it 15-20 minutes, but not this time. Once we arrived the building was fully involved."

To see more stories, go to www.crh.noaa.gov/ind


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Didn't realize it had been 30 years. Interesting to read and see reports on other news sites about it.

-- Posted by purple_heat on Sat, Jan 26, 2008, at 12:17 PM


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