GREAT BLIZZARD

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1726, 29 March 1905, Page 73 (Supplement)

GREAT BLIZZARD

The worst blizzard since that of 1883 was experienced in New York during the first week of January.

Many of the streets were impassable owing to great- drifts of snow, and thie railway trains and electric cars worked, without the least regard to scheduled’ time. The bilzzard struck the city suddenly, after a slight fall of rain had rendered the surface of the snow-cover-ed roads glass-like. Women walking) along the streets were blown about, at Iho caprice of the gale, and many sustained bad falls, and had to be removed to the hospitals. All who could made direct for shelter. Theatre and concert goers were stupefied by the force of the storm on leaving the places of amusement, and took refuge in the nearest hotels till the morning. Some very curious effects were to he seen in the city. Although there was only nine inches of a snowfall. Lower Broadway was banked six feet high on both sides with snow. At the same time many cross roads were swept quite clean by the wind. In the parks one side was buried beneath mountains of snow, while the other side was quite clear. The sun was every now and then completely obscured by immense clouds o£ fine snow, which w T as driven high in the air by the wind, and people in the streets rushed into the shops for safety. The hospitals were filled with cases of partial heart failure, which had been caused by the storm. The particles of snow driven against the face with blinding force caused a feeling of choking helplessness, often followed by collapse, and many women and children were picked up in the street in this condition by the ambulance men.