January 28 to February 1, 1977

The blizzard hit on a Friday afternoon. It snowed for four days, leaving 66 inches of snow on the ground in Watertown and 80 inches in southern Jefferson County. Fierce winds whipped snow into piles upwards of 20 feet and created zero visibility, paralyzing the county for almost a week. Residents in the north country start to get nostalgic every year at the end of January, and then the tales begin.

Excerpt from
"TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER BLIZZARD OF '77, WEATHER IS POLAR OPPOSITE"
WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES, January 28, 2002, A.C. Adornetto Times Staff Writer

A barn in East Rodman collapsed beneath tons of accumulated snow. And the ice on the St. Lawrence River was reported to be the thickest it had been in 40 years.While the big one, the Blizzard of '77, was still nine or 10 days away, the north country was already in the midst of a pretty cold and snowy winter.

No way could anyone imagine what was about to paralyze this section of the state for nearly eight days. Just about everyone was caught unprepared when on Friday, Jan. 28, 1977, a wintry blast gave the north country a solid and swift kick.

Roads became impassable in Jefferson and Lewis counties, where authorities in short order declared states of emergency. People couldn't leave their jobs to get home. Travelers who thought they were Florida-bound were instead snowbound. A Bradley Street Road couple, David and Janet Bonney, served meals in their home to 53 unexpected guests.

Motels were crammed. Makeshift shelters were established at the State Office Building and in the Sears store, then at 250 Arsenal St. REACT, a citizens'-band radio association, aided with communications, and the Red Cross directed rescue support efforts.

WWNY-AM radio went to 24-hour emergency broadcast status.

Store supplies, meanwhile, were dwindling.

When the storm finally stopped flexing its muscle early Tuesday, Feb. 1, Watertown had accumulated 66 inches of snow. To the south of the city, there were snow depths of up to 8 feet, with drifts and banks reaching even higher.

Fort Drum contributed 370 people, 58 vehicles and 11 helicopters to help in rescues and delivery of supplies. The federal government was slow to respond, but after a presidential disaster declaration was issued for nine counties in the state, Watertown became a host for temporary offices of the Red Cross, Farmers Home Administration, Small Business Administration, Office of Disaster Preparedness-Federal Disaster Assistance Administration and Civil Defense.

Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming counties also took crippling hits from the storm. St. Lawrence County wasn't spared, either.

Just as the snow settled, tempers flared. By Thursday, the county was able to open some roads leading to Watertown, but the city was still closed. City police set up roadblocks to turn away liberated county drivers, including medical personnel. That brought protests from the city's two hospitals.

"We've got people who have been here since last Thursday, and we'd like to get our nurses in here to relieve them and send them home," said an official at the House of the Good Samaritan, now Samaritan Medical Center.

To resolve the problem, hospitals were allowed to operate shuttles from the roadblocks, with employees forced to leave their cars parked in lots on the city's outskirts.

Mayor Karl R. Burns later explained the city's stubborn position.

"If we had lifted the ban then, we never could have made the progress we have," he said.

The city and county finally came to agreement that at noon Friday, a nearly weeklong travel ban would be lifted. The unusual tranquility that had prevailed for the several days over Public Square, where pedestrian traffic had the unimpaired right of way, was rapidly displaced by the roar and exhaust of bumper-to-bumper traffic.

"Memories of the big one still clear after 3 decades"
WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES, January 28, 2007, David C. Shampine Times Staff Writer
TOP

March 3, 1991

Freezing rain started falling around 4 p.m. Sunday, according to officials at Watertown International Airport, near Dexter, but the full brunt of the storm did not hit until midnight.

Mr. Forte said 56 crews from Syracuse, Utica, Albany, Potsdam, Malone and Saranac Lake were called in to supplement some 40 crews from Watertown, Carthage, Lowville and Clayton. Each crew has three men.

During the night, several flashes of blue light lit the skies above Watertown. Each one was followed by a loud hum as the electrical system tried to maintain power before it finally failed.

Tree limbs ladened with ice from 1.13 inches of rain since Sunday afternoon bent to the ground, threatening to break under the weight of the ice.

Motorists and rescue workers were forced to weave through fallen branches and power lines encased in ice.

Thousands of telephone calls inundated emergency centers. Jefferson County Sheriff Donald F. Newberry said his officers dispatched various fire departments 133 times in a six-hour span and were estimating 250 to 300 calls an hour.

Sheriff Newberry took his patrols off the road at about midnight, allowing them out only to answer emergencies. Despite all the calls, Mr. Madill said there was only one structure fire, an abandoned building in the Sackets Harbor-Dexter region. However, a falling power line set two trucks on fire at a car dealership on outer Washington St., he said.

Troopers said a tree had fallen on the Henderson Harbor Post Office at about 1:50 a.m. they also reported "numerous vehicles" involved in accidents at the U.S.-Canadian border on Wellesley Island. A U.S. Customs official reported a tractor-trailer off the road this morning. Although the crossing was open, there was little traffic due to the state of emergency.

Town and country highway crews worked throughout the night to open roads. Town crews found themselves unable to pump gasoline from their underground storage tanks without electrical power so the county opened its gravity-fed tanks to town departments.

He estimated that 90 percent of the city was still without power as of 8 a.m. Mr. Forte said the Mohawk crews restored an transmission line to the Mill Street substation since the downtown is served by underground lines.

Mr. Amylon said the water plant was not effected and continued to pump.

July 16, 1995

"How Microburst Ravaged the North Country"

• Warm air rised until it becomes cooler than surrounding air, then begins to sink. Acycle of up and down drafts can persist for over an hour.
• If the up/down draft cycle is strong enough. large hail can form as it conties to pass throught the freezing level.
• Once the air becomes so cold that the updrafts are shut down, a microburst occurs.
• A Microburst is most pronounced closer to the storm and will fan out as it moves away from the storm.
• The microburst may occur with or withour rain. It is usually noticed as a cool breeze just prior to rain. All thunderstorms will have these, but it is only with the very large and tall storms that extensive damage is produced.

It shot a series of violent thunderstorms from as high as 50,000 feet at unlucky north country communities, uprooting mobile homes, trees and lives as it swirled. It was a microburst, a little known weather phenomena in these parts, at least until about 4:30 a.m. Saturday.

Edward G. Reich, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Buffalo, confirmed it Monday when he looked at aerial pictures of Dutch Settlement Road in LaFargeville. He looked at a road dotted with white splatters that used to be homes.

A tornado would have strewn trees and parts of homes in a circle. The debris in LaFargeville, and the other north country communities that got slammed, was thrown in one direction. That is consistent with severe thunderstorms, where 80 mph winds are not unusual.

According to meteorologists, this is what happened: A formation of hot and cold air drafts rode up over the high pressure system that is creating the 100 degree-plus days that are killing hundreds of people in the Midwest. It headed out from Michigan, speeding toward the area at about 55 mph.

January 4 to January 10, 1998

The sheer size of the 1998 ice storm - stretching from Watertown to Montreal and to Boston - overwhelmed county governments and relief agencies. Nobody was ready."We never had experienced an event of that magnitude before," said Joseph W. Rosenfeld, manager of electrical overhead operations for Central New York for National Grid, formerly Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.

Tree limbs shattered under the weight of ice. Electricity was lost for weeks. Schools became shelters. Almost every telephone pole was destroyed.

On Jan. 10, 1998, President Bill Clinton declared much of the north country a federal disaster area.

A decade later, however, area officials are confident they would be ready if another storm hit. "We're in a lot better shape than we were 10 years ago," said Keith W. Johnson, chairman of disaster relief services for the American Red Cross of Northern New York. The biggest improvement cited is the information exchange among agencies. "I think we have better communication between departments, better communication with the county," said Watertown City Manager Mary M. Corriveau.

Were you caught short during the "Great Ice Storm"? If you have decided to never get caught off guard again, here is some help on what you can do to make the next (God Forbid!) disaster easier to deal with.

Emergencies can take many forms - blizzards, floods, ice storms and power failures to mention a few. Weathering these natural catastrophes can be much easier if you have the right supplies on hand and know what to do and do it safely. Not all disasters will affect everyone. You may be the only one faced with an emergency. As a basic preparation, especially if you are elderly, or live alone, set up a system of daily contact with someone outside your own home. Someone will know to check on you if you are missed.

Items to keep on hand include: battery operated radio, flashlight, extra batteries, candles - long-lasting types such as patio candles with tip-proof containers, matches, bottled drinking water, an alternate source of safe heat and safely stored fuel.

Be sure adequate ventilation and venting are available before burning any alternate energy source. You may be in greater danger of asphyxiation or fire than freezing to death when dressed warmly in your home.

All houses should have battery operated fire detectors in strategic spots around the house. These batteries should be checked regularly.

Foods should include canned, ready-to-serve meats, peanut butter and canned tuna fish, dried milk or canned evaporated milk, canned vegetables, dried fruits and canned or bottled fruit juice, oatmeal, dry cereal and unopened packages of crackers. If you have an infant on formula, several cans of ready-to-feed formula may be most sanitary. Having paper plates in your emergency stash may make life neater.

Food can be creatively prepared during power outages by using fireplaces to cook by skewering, wrapping in foil and baking or grilling. Candle warmers such as fondue pots could heat canned sauces or small casseroles. Camp heaters and charcoal heaters should be kept outside to avoid deadly fumes.

If canned food gets wet through flood waters or flooded cellars due to non-functioning sump pumps, don't forget to sanitize the cans before opening them. Cans and jars of food can be sanitized by washing in a strong detergent solution and removing all silt. The cans and commercial glass jars must be free of rust, dents, bulging or leaks.

Immerse scrubbed containers for 15 minutes in cold (60 to 70 degree Fahrenheit) chlorine solution. Mix one teaspoon of 4 percent bleach to 1 quart of water. Remove containers from water and air dry before opening. Relabel if possible.

Dress warmly and remember to wear a hat.

This March we have learned many creative ways to survive natural disasters. Don't let these lessons go unheeded. Take steps now to prepare for Who Knows?