By Lorrie Ross
Staff Writer
Where were you when The Great Blizzard of 1993 slammed western North Carolina with heavy snowfall and high winds? Pretty much anyone old enough to remember still talks about the massive snowmaker thirty years later.
Also known as the 1993 Storm of the Century, the Superstorm and The No Name Storm, the blizzard brought the most snow ever recorded in North Carolina in a 24-hour period.
Former Clay County Sheriff’s Deputy Melvin Cantrell remembers some scary times. The office received a call to check on a family who lived on Clear Creek. “Sheriff Tony Woody told me to take the truck, a Chevy that was high off the ground with very aggressive tires and check on them,” Cantrell recounted. “It didn’t have a two-way radio. All I had was my walkie-talkie. I got on the road to Clear Creek and was pushing snow with the front bumper. I was so far out the walkie-talkie was useless. It was pretty scary not knowing if I was going to get stuck. I didn’t and made the trip to check on them and back out. It took four or five hours though.”
Many around the county were without power for seven to ten days, or longer, which kept first responders busy. “The next two weeks were spent checking on folks, carrying kerosene, wood, medicines and food to folks,” Cantrell continued. “We got stuck a lot. We had the National Guard in the county, led by Robert Long. They were working out of the sheriff’s office. Humvees were new then. I rode a lot with Keith Mills in one of them. You couldn’t really say they had heaters in them. We stayed stuck in that Humvee most of the time and about froze to death. They weren’t even close to being as good as the old jeeps the military used to have.”
Joanna Atkisson made do without power. “I remember cooking pinto beans on the wood stove,” she recalled. “I pretty much was living in the front room of my house where the wood stove was and sleeping on the couch to stay warm. I was lucky that my power wasn’t out as long as most folks.”
Macon County resident Claudia Mattheiss said her neighbor lit an unused fireplace for the first time. “He ended up burning half his furniture as they were out of power for so long,” she added.
Clarissa Fuentes recalled her memories as a young girl during the storm. “Hard to believe 30 years have passed. I do remember standing in the kitchen and hearing a tree being uprooted, looking out to see it headed toward the house but not knowing which way to move. A tree probably 50 feet tall took off our deck and penetrated the roof. It was quite scary.”
Her sister Keyla Youngblood-Stillwell recalls the tree and more. “I remember jumping on the piano bench while the tree was falling,” she said. “None of us knew which way to go. I also remember going on a walk in the back of the house and having to lift my legs up to go through the snow. It was so deep you couldn’t walk normally.”
Despite being frightening, the storm was also fun for some. Fuentes said their mother Paula Youngblood was well-prepared. “I know we didn’t go to school for a week, but we were all prepared with food. One funny thing is Mom was all excited in the preparations. She bought all kinds of good things to fix to eat – all our favorite treats. Of course we lost power on day one and it was out a few more days. The food kept in the snow.”
Shooting Creek resident Elizabeth Keen also enjoyed the snow. “I remember that was my first experience with snow. Had more in Shootin’ Creek than my husband had in Alaska – 36 inches,” she smiled. “Two weeks with no power. Stole wood for my new woodstove from my neighbor who was in Florida. To get down to the basement without going out in the snow, I cut a hole in the floor and stuck a GTE ladder down to basement floor. Hubby was grateful I cut the hole where the stairs were going to be. Just me and my Lab. I loved every minute of it.”
The boys visiting Penny Penland’s house for her son’s birthday party got an unexpected extended stay. “We had about five boys spending the night for Will’s birthday, which was March 13th,” she said. “Several ended up staying several days. They dug tunnels through our back yard.”
Hayesville residents Wayne and Ida Stafford were living in Virginia when the storm hit. “We came to Abingdon because my dad had died, and we got snowed in at Wayne’s sister’s house,” Ida explained. “Josh was a newborn and my milk had dried up from being away for a few days. Wayne and my brother-in-law had to hike in two foot of snow to find formula for Josh. We were there for over a week before we could head back home.”
Hinton Center’s Jacqueline Gottlieb was a college student at Western Carolina University and student teaching at the Reservation at the time. “They had their own snow plows so school went back ASAP,” she laughed. “My plants froze in our trailer. My friend came in four wheel drive to get me and my stash of food. Because everyone knows you don’t go hungry at my house.”
Other college students across western North Carolina were impacted in various ways. UNC Asheville were about to start Spring Break, but got stuck in two feet of snow. For the first time ever, Appalachian State University actually canceled classes.
Information compiled from several online reports says the blizzard was a cyclonic storm which formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 1993. Cold weather, heavy snowfall, storm surges and even thunder and lightning stretched across a large area from Canada to Honduras. Mount Mitchell, N.C., set a record of 36 inches of snow fell in one 24-hour period on March 13, 1993. The storm eventually dissipated over the North Atlantic Ocean on March 15, 1993.