Wayne High School - Sentry Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

Page 20 text:

. . and the Lord said, Let there be snow and there was snow. Then the Lord said, Let the snow melt. and there was water; lots of water. After we struggled through the bliz- zard of ' 78, breathing a sigh of relief would have been synonymous with drowning. Instead of preparing for spring, many were filling sandbags and building dams. Waterwings soon became fashionable traveling attire. When the snow was finished, the rain came down: an estimated 40 days and 40 nights worth. With no ark in sight, the mult itudes fled to relatives and nearby shelters, and the Red Cross wel- comed them. When the waters receded, the now nervous people went to their local drug- store and, just in case, bought locust repellant.

Page 19 text:

One day God and his angels were tak- ing inventory when one of his cherubs noticed there was a lot of snow left over from the winter of ' 77. Hey God, he said, What do you want done with all this extra snow? Dump it, was God ' s reply. And dump it they did. The result was the blizzard of ' 78. Schools all over the area were closed for days on end; it was truly a time for rejoicing — for some people. For others the blizzard meant hours of back-breaking snow shoveling which was to be ruined by the next stiff wind. The theme of the blizzard could have been ' Working Together ' ; for without it, we couldn ' t have made it through our cri- sis. In remembrance of the blizzard and the flood. Mayor Armstrong declared June 10 ' Survival Day ' , and 12,000 peo- ple went through the Old Fort for free — the largest one-day crowd in its history. From rural barns and mailboxes to stranded auto- mobiles and scenic gravel pits, the monstrous win- ter of ' 78 covered us all.

Page 21 text:

Counterclockwise: A dead end sign sur- rounded by water at Foster Park; The river overflow ran right into Tillman Rd. and stop- ped traffic there for about a week; The water at Foster Park rose right up to the nearby houses; Traffic was closed at the intersec- tion of Tillman and Calhoun for an entire week due to High Water.