Blizzard of 77

Woods book is an excellent piece of work that chronicles the human response to the disastrous Great Plains Blizzard of mid-March 1977. The forty two actual survival stories and experiences in this book are true. By today’s standards many of these accounts would be heralded as heroic and would have become television dramas. However most were never reported or even told. They include dramatic livestock losses of over 100,000 thousand head. Human deaths resulted from the storm and the stories of their discovery by rescue workers makes moving reading. They include three school children frozen in an open pasture, the frozen body of a mother lying on her child and twenty two other impact laden stories of blizzard related deaths. Survival stories also come from rescue workers and survivors themselves--some buried for two days in their vehicles. Thousands of travelers found shelter wherever they could, in cafes, gas stations, private homes, churches, hastily prepared shelters, hotels and motels well beyond their capacity even a roadside restroom. Infrastructure nearly collapsed; Thousands of grid poles were destroyed leaving a five state area without power for days and weeks; Phone lines were decimated leaving only police radios and CBs for communication; Major interstates closed for three to five days; Secondary and country roads closed for weeks; Complete towns were buried in thirty foot drifts; Farms and ranches visible from National Guard helicopters only by their roof tops; Thousands of distress calls came in with no means of locating their sources; Rescue workers using metal detectors and avalanche poles looking for buried vehicles; Road crews working day and night to open roads; Fires that were allowed to burn because they could not be gotten too. The detailed description of the landscapes, the problem they posed and how the land changed the effects of the storm is one of the great strengths of the book. You will come away with the impression that though it