Historic storm caused a lot of damage

This is the third part of our look back on the Blizzard of ‘78,
which happened 40 years ago this week.

Published in the February 7, 2018 edition

By ROBERT D. KEOHAN

Roofs on two stores in Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, Cummings and Anderson-Little, collapsed and nearby stores were also flooded as well, but since the mall was closed no injuries occurred.

Hull was severely damaged and hundreds of residents evacuated from the battered town.

In Newburyport the Mayor asked Plum Island residents to come to higher mainland areas because of the record tides coming in from the Atlantic.

At Old Orchard Beach, Maine, the amusement pier was swept away, another victim of the enormous storm. On Cape Cod the Literary House was destroyed by the storm.

There was a claim that five inches of snow fell in one hour at Francestown, New Hampshire, a small town in the Monadnock region.

Over the storm period there were multiple stories of dedication, concern, heroism and “brotherly” help. In contrast there was “minor looting” in Roxbury, Mattapan and Dorchester. All Boston off-duty tactical and mobile force officers were called in to deal with the situation and riot gear was ordered. National Guardsmen helped in the patrols in the affected areas, where more than 100 arrests were made Tuesday night. (Dukakis called out the National Guard’s Bay State units, all 6500 strong, after declaring the “emergency” Monday night; for Thursday the bans were only needed for eastern Massachusetts).

Coastal flooding

The storm caused devastating damage all along the coastline from Rhode Island to Maine. Revere was one of the hardest hit spots on the coast as the evacuated residents were brought to Revere High School. Outsiders found it impossible to drive into Revere as ten foot drifts blocked ramps. There was a report that a 103 apartment senior living building which housed at least 150 seniors in Revere was without heat or light for 20 hours. Some areas of Revere were under six feet of water. Personnel from Fort Devens rescued 900 Revere residents from homes and apartments.

One of the most iconic shacks in the US, Rockport’s famed Motif No. 1, went, a victim of the storm, as did the Peter Stuyvesant, the ship that had been berthed at Anthony’s Pier 4 in Boston Harbor on a concrete and steel foundation hammered into bedrock; it was buffeted by 80 to 100 mile an hour winds, torn loose from its base and eventually sunk.

Saugus residents near the Saugus River had to be evacuated to elementary schools when the river rose seven feet over normal and flooded over its banks. The high water flowed into the first floors of the homes and one resident noted that her furniture was floating around the first floor when she left her home.

Quincy also had to conduct evacuations of residents near the coast.

The New Hampshire coast was seriously damaged as the Five O’Clock Club at Salisbury Beach was swept away and part of the Frolics also was taken out into the Atlantic. Just as on the South Shore of Massachusetts, some homes on the New Hampshire coast were wrecked.

Record depths

The storm of January 20-21, 1978, left a record of dropping 24 inches of snow in a 24 hour period. Logan recorded 27 inches Tuesday, February 6, alone to break that record. Most North Shore towns recorded 27 inches, Wakefield topping the average at 29 inches. The only place north of Boston topping 30 was Malden, which listed the depth at 30 to 33 inches. The measuring of this storm was difficult because the very violent winds caused huge drifts.

Daytime parking in Wakefield was to be limited to one side of the street, the even numbered side on February 8 and the odd numbered side on February 9 and so forth, according to Police Chief William R. Connors.

Of the 38 known dead by Thursday night, five died Tuesday in a pilot boat trying to reach the stranded 682 foot Greek tanker Global Hope which was five miles from Salem Harbor. It carried 150,000 gallons of fuel and a crew of 32 when it became stranded. The five men who first went out to help on a 47 foot pilot boat went to their deaths in the wild seas hammering the coast. Then later a Coast Guard cutter was able to remove most of the crew and the Global Hope was eventually pulled to safety as the storm ended.

During the storm an oil tank at the Union Oil Company tank farm in Revere sprang a leak and over a million gallons of oil escaped before the tank was resealed.

Thursday, February 9

Dick Boutiette’s morning report of DPW activities indicated that men were essentially on 20 hour shifts with six hours off to go home and sleep before beginning another 20 hour shift in the ongoing battle to clean up the streets. As he pointed out, “it’s tough on both men and machines.”

Some 30 to 40 streets had not been touched before this morning but there were hopes that plows would get to them today. Some people had complained that school yards had been plowed but not their streets. The answer to that was that the private contractors involved worked for the School Department, not for the DPW, as Boutiette noted.

Because of the magnitude of the snowfall, three vehicles made a unit with either a front end loader or a bulldozer leading two plows. A dozen such units were being used to cover the town by Thursday. Once every street was done, the sidewalk plowing to allow children to attend school next Monday would follow.

The State of Emergency in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was to end at midnight and Friday some restrictions were to end. The bank holiday was extended into today, its third day, in the most affected areas but banks had been allowed to reopen on Cape Cod and in western Massachusetts.

Thursday there were meetings of the Board of Selectmen and of the Board of Public Works while the Finance Committee, which had moved to tonight, now will wait until Saturday morning to meet.

Some National Guard equipment originally lent to Wakefield was taken back to Camp Curtis Guild to help there and then in the early hours of Thursday transferred to Boston to aid the city.

Essex Street, a private way then, was blocked by a pickup truck. The DPW could not legally move it until it was learned it was a stolen vehicle.

By today a military airlift was underway to aid the stricken areas of New England by airlifting in more troops and more snowmoving equipment, The death toll was up to 38 at present but it was expected to go even higher. In the Bay State’s eastern sections some 11,000 were left homeless by the storm, having to abandon their homes or apartments.

Harvard University called off classes for the first time in its 343 year history Tuesday and a spokesperson said classes would not resume until Friday, February 10.

With 119 arrested in Boston for looting by this time, angry judges were holding them in jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. More than 200 National Guard police were sent to Boston to end the rash of break-ins.

Another 23 arrests were made in Providence, where two were of men running down a street carrying a pipe rack of leather coats stolen from a department store.

The first federal troops to land at T. F. Green Airport at Warwick, Rhode Island, did so after ground workers cleared a runway overnight and Governor J. Joseph Garrahy greeted them on their arrival. About 4000 stranded by the storm stayed in shelters overnight in Rhode Island after 3000 returned home.

The Maine coast south of Portland took a beating, causing damage to 400 houses.