Blizzard of 1978

The Blizzard of 1978 was the great northeaster that stalled off southern New England from the morning of Monday, February 6, 1978 to the evening of Tuesday, February 7, burying eastern Massachusetts under two to three feet of snow driven by hurricane-force gusts. Boston measured 27.1 inches, about 3,500 cars were abandoned on Route 128, and the American Red Cross counted 73 deaths in Massachusetts. Governor Michael Dukakis declared a state of emergency and closed the roads of eastern Massachusetts to all but emergency travel for most of the following week, and the National Guard was called out to help dig the region out. In Billerica, as in the other towns around Boston, the roads were closed and the schools shut for a week, and the town's records speak of it simply as "the Blizzard emergency."

The town reports, which by then covered fiscal years running from July to June, record the blizzard chiefly through its cost and the thanks of the department heads. Police Chief John M. Barretto Jr. thanked "the Billerica Fire Department, the Public Works Department, Civil Defense and the Volunteer Auxillary who gave of their time and efforts in the Blizzard emergency." The public works crews under Public Works Administrator Edward V. Leahy plowed, sanded and salted every street, and the Civil Defense department under its director Charles J. Faria worked alongside them. The schools were closed for the week: the Billerica Memorial High School yearbook for 1978 lists "February 7-13, 1978 -- Snowbound!" in its calendar of the year, notes that "due to the snowstorm the week before, many activities had to be cancelled" in the Spirit Week of February 13 to 17, and gave a page to a drawing of a student with a shovel peering over the snow line, captioned "Snowbound! Blizzard of February 1978." The winter vacation began on February 17 as planned.

The storm broke the town's snow budget. The Snow and Sand account (No. 417) for the fiscal year 1977-1978 had $463,256 available, the $300,000 appropriation together with $163,256 of federal storm damage aid, and $730,000 was spent, leaving an overdraft of $266,744. A special town meeting held at the Marshall Middle School on June 15, 1978 voted under Article 19 "to apply the Federal Diaster Assistant Grant received in the amount of $81,628.00 as well as the additional grant of $81,914.36 to reduce the overdraft in Account No. 417, Snow and Sand," and the rest of the deficit, $266,744, was raised in the tax levy for the next year. A small federal C.E.T.A. account for "Emergency Snow Removal" was also charged to the public works department.

People

• John M. Barretto Jr.: Police Chief, who directed the police in the Blizzard emergency and thanked the fire, public works, Civil Defense and auxiliary volunteers.
• Edward V. Leahy: Public Works Administrator, whose department plowed, sanded and salted the town's streets in the blizzard and its aftermath.
• Charles J. Faria: Civil Defense Director (1963-1981), whose department and auxiliaries worked in the Blizzard emergency.

References

1. Billerica Annual Report, fiscal year ended June 30, 1978: Police Chief Barretto on the Blizzard emergency (p. 112); special town meeting of June 15, 1978, Article 19, federal disaster grants for Snow and Sand (pp. 64-65).
2. Warrior 1978, Billerica Memorial High School yearbook, pp. 3, 10, 15: calendar entry 'February 7-13, 1978 -- Snowbound!', Spirit Week activities cancelled, 'Snowbound! Blizzard of February 1978' page.
3. National Weather Service, Boston office, 'Blizzard of 1978': storm stalled about 36 hours, Boston 27.1 inches, 3,500 cars stranded on Route 128, 73 Massachusetts deaths (Red Cross).
4. Wikipedia, 'Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978': dates February 5-7, 1978; Governor Dukakis's closing of the roads; National Guard.