(Spirit Lake)– Today (Jan. 10th) marks the 50th anniversary of what would become known as “the blizzard of the century”. The storm actually began January 9th, 1975 and went on for several days, dumping 16 inches of snow that was whipped into total whiteout conditions and 15 foot high drifts by winds gusting to nearly 80 mph.
The storm brought down power lines resulting in massive power outages in sub-zero temperatures. It claimed 58 lives throughout the upper midwest, including five in Iowa. Locally, snowmobiles were used to rescue a number of people who were caught off guard.
Schools were closed for a couple of weeks in some cases, and there were significant losses to livestock, with dead cattle still being found yet that following spring.
Robert Ray, who was Governor at the time, declared 40 counties in northwest and western Iowa disaster areas.
