Originally published on CampusAttic.com on November 27th, 2013
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A
2011 New York Times article declared the Pacific
Northwest the safest place to live to avoid a natural disaster. Aside from a
seemingly endless supply of rain, there rarely exists extremes on par with
hurricane season or tornado alley reluctantly accepted by our brethren east of
the Rockies. But one unforgettable day stands out as the exception, the
measuring stick for all storms to come thereafter.
On
Columbus Day (October 12th) in 1962, a storm struck the west coast from San
Francisco to Seattle, something the likes of which have never been seen before
or since. Meteorologists referred to it as Typhoon Frieda, but those who lived
it will forever remember it as the Columbus Day Storm.
Equivalent
to a category-4 hurricane, the strongest extratropical cyclone ever recorded,
winds were recorded at one weather station as high as 180 mph. One weather
station near Corvallis was completely abandoned, those who manned it fleeing
for their lives after winds in excess of 127 mph were recorded.
The damage was multiplied by the storm’s south-to-north track up the coast,
heading straight up the valley bypassing the natural buffer zone the Cascade
Mountains normally provide. By the time the storm subsided, over six billion in
damages in today’s dollars had occurred throughout the northwest, 46 people
lost their lives.
At
the University of Oregon, it was a typical fall day. Thoughts were with the
football team, traveling to Houston to face Rice the next day, in what would
prove to be Mel Renfro’s greatest game as an Oregon Duck. There was no cause
for alarm, as weather reporting in the era was primitive at best. The first
weather satellite had only been launched into space two years prior, reports
were based on first-hand reports from ships and scattered weather stations, and
the massive weather system stirring in the south Pacific had gone unnoticed.
As
afternoon classes let out, the skies began to darken and wind gusts picked up
to noticeable levels, which brought only mild curiosity and grumbling for those
who hadn’t dressed properly for another typical Oregon fall front. It didn’t
take long for students to gather and gawk though, as winds accelerated by the
minute, sending umbrella-wielding students and faculty flying out of control.
What
began as a scene of potential comedy and ridicule aimed at fellow students
escalated to one of terror, as roof shingles and tree limbs began flying
through the air from the gale force winds shattering windows of campus
buildings. Ominous weather reports began to come in to TV stations in the
northwest, but it wasn’t until they fell silent that the alarms were raised, as
massive power outages occurred throughout northern California. Word spread over
TV, radio, and around campus, seek shelter immediately.
As
students and faculty alike ran for the closest building, the full brunt of
Frieda struck in the late afternoon into the evening, bringing winds in Eugene
in excess of 85 miles per hour.
Trees
around campus came crashing down, while anything not strongly bolted down
became flying projectiles. Windows shattered, wind howled, and all night folks
in Eugene sat indoors agonizingly waiting for the storm to pass. Thankfully on
campus power remained on, as the university’s Physical Plant’s wires ran
underground, but the rest of Eugene was not so lucky.
By
the morning, the storm had passed, and damage could be assessed. Throughout the
entire northwest, it was on a scale never seen before. The timber and farm
industries were obliterated, the coastal fishing fleet was destroyed, and many
buildings had been completely destroyed.
Trees
that had stood on campus for 70 years were reduced to mangled firewood, cars
were crushed or thrown about, a line of scooters were toppled like dominoes,
and power lines were down all over campus making walking dangerous. Only one radio
station in the area was still operational, and with its separate power station
the University of Oregon became an odd beacon, the lone area with light amidst
a blacked out Willamette Valley.
Worse
still, five Eugene residents had died, one of them being a University of Oregon
student.
Larry
Johnson, 21, lived in the married student housing units for UO students on
Patterson Street. During the height of the storm Johnson was trying to put
cardboard over the windows of his apartment, unaware that a large chunk of the
roof of Roosevelt Junior High School had been torn off from the buildings and
was flying straight towards him. A chunk of the Roosevelt roof flew through his
window, piercing his chest. He was pronounced dead at Sacred Heart Hospital, where
his pregnant wife was also being treated for shock.
The
damage was immense. and the toll on residents both physically and emotionally
was even worse. Roy Johnson, 62, of Villard Street had suffered broken bones
and kidney damage when he was struck by an airborne UO ticket booth. Much of
the state was without power for weeks, and people worked tirelessly to clean up
and restore services.
Up
in Portland, the Oregon State Beavers were slated to play the Washington
Huskies at Multnomah Stadium. Despite a total lack of power and severe damage
to the stadium, the game went on, the teams having to dress by candle light.
The Beavers were led by 1962 Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker, but lost to the
Huskies 14-13. The Oregon Ducks fared much better, defeating Rice 31-12. It was
quite a scene the team returned to upon their charter flight’s return to
Eugene, they had missed the storm of the century.
Amidst
the clean up there was an even more ominous backdrop, as two days after the
storm the Cuban Missile Crisis began, a two-week stretch where the world was at
the brink of nuclear war. For those living in the northwest, their homes
already resembled the aftermath of a bomb. With power outages lasting weeks and
TV/radio towers toppled though, many never knew that while they emerged from
the worst disaster to ever strike the northwest, a possibly larger disaster
loomed along the opposite coastline.
Thankfully
threats of nuclear war went into remission, and the damage was slowly cleaned
up, the state’s electrical grid having to be almost completely rebuilt. But the
scars of the storm remained, a measuring stick for all others to come since to
be compared to, and for those who experienced it, their lives would be forever
changed.
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| The Eugene Register Guard front page the day after the storm (courtesy: Eugene Register-Guard) |
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