30 years later, Blizzard of '78 still packs punch

27 inches of snow, heavy winds brought region to a standstill

Revere Fire Chief Gene Doherty spent two days evacuating Beachmont residents from their homes. (Globe Staff Photo / David L. Ryan)

Gene Doherty was almost swept out to sea as tried to evacuate coastal residents in Revere. In Nahant, Richard Lombard was surrounded by flooded roads. At Winthrop Beach, waves battered the sea wall as winds lifted boulders - and even cars - off Shore Drive into nearby homes.

These were just some of the scenes from what people called the storm of the 20th century, the Blizzard of '78, which brought northern Massachusetts to a halt for more than a week 30 years ago. From Feb. 5-8, 27 inches of snow fell while winds up to 80 miles per hour created drifts 15 feet high. Thousands of people were left without heat, water, and electricity.

Along the shoreline communities of Revere, Winthrop, and Nahant, where Doherty was a 26-year-old firefighter and Lombard a selectman in 1978, the onslaught came from the sea as well as the sky. Massive high tides pounded seawalls and homes, flooding houses, streets, and entire neighborhoods.

Anthony Puopolo, one of the few who still lives on Broadside Avenue in Revere's Beachmont section, said he would have been trapped if he hadn't acted fast.

"It was a big stormy day, and we got out of work early so I came home and I took a nap," Puopolo, now 70, recalled. "In the late afternoon I woke up, looked out the window and saw a good foot and a half of water rushing down the street. I jumped in my car and took off. I thought I would come back the next day, but it took me six months before I could move back in."

On Feb. 6, 1978, just hours after Puopolo fled, Doherty, now the Revere fire chief, arrived with a crew sent to the Beachmont section near Puopolo's house. For the next two days, he spent much of his time standing in chest-high flood water evacuating people from their homes. With no boats, hip-booted firefighters carried the residents to safety, eventually bringing them to the high school where more than 2,000 people stayed for days.

Doherty recalls vividly his brush with death. "The water surge was so great that we had to hold onto a fence . . . our bodies were parallel to the ground, and if it wasn't for another firefighter who came toward us with a rope, we may not have made it.

"We actually said our prayers, because we were so cold we couldn't move. But somebody knew we were missing and came back there with a length of rope and got us. He dragged us to a porch with the rope. We broke into a house, sat down in somebody's kitchen, and I just sat there for a while."

Today, municipal workers in the communities hardest hit by the blizzard say lessons learned from that storm have prevented other catastrophes.

In 1992, the city of Revere replaced much of the sand at Revere Beach, which had disappeared between the 1978 blizzard and another big storm in 1991. More recently, the city finished a $12 million project that placed a stone embankment along Roughan's Point to prevent erosion and reduce wave height. The project also raised the beach's sea wall by 2 feet.

"The project seemed to have worked well, and has significantly reduced the wave action in that area," said Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino.

On Broadside Avenue, near Roughan's Point, most of the houses have been rebuilt - a testament to the fury of the 1978 blizzard.

In Nahant, locals still refer to the massive flooding that created rivers out of the town's small streets. During the storm, one resident died in a fire.

In the aftermath, the town spent more than $4.5 million to repair its sea walls and to install a pumping station near the municipal golf course along the ocean on Willow Road. The town also has purchased snow removal machinery that could be used in massive storms. Lombard, who still sits on the Board of Selectmen, said the blizzard prompted the town to create an emergency management plan in 1979.

"We had no equipment to handle this. We were buried physically by snow and water," said Lombard.

Flooding still occurs in Nahant during bad storms, but Lombard said the pumping station and new sea walls have helped contain the waters.

These days if a major storm is expected, utility workers from telephone, electric, and gas companies typically are on the peninsula beforehand in order to maintain service. Also, the town has contact information for Nahant's senior citizens in case they need to be evacuated, and also has a list of medical personnel who will volunteer to help if needed.

During the 1978 storm, the town was inaccessible for five days. The Nahant causeway was clogged with abandoned cars, and emergency vehicles could only leave the town by driving on a walking path along Nahant Beach.

With no power, and no food, residents shared whatever was left in their kitchens. About 300 people were evacuated to Town Hall and an elementary school. Some 300 homes were destroyed, and it took two months before power was fully restored.

Up the coast in Winthrop, town workers rebuild the dunes at Yirrill Beach every spring along Point Shirley. But coastal residents say more could be done to help protect the coastline. Residents say a sand restoration project at Winthrop Beach would help them breathe easier.

The project, which needs federal approval, could cost up to $15 million, and calls for 500,000 cubic yards of sand to be spread along the beach.

"Last spring, I was standing in my yard with waves lapping at my ankles," said Cheryl Tobey, who lives across from Winthrop Beach. She said moderate flooding occurs in the area at least three times a year because of a lack of sand on the beach.

Since the 1978 blizzard, the beach has been ravaged by erosion; these days it's also a dumping ground for bottles, lobster traps, and other debris.

"We're on borrowed time," said Tobey, who constantly monitors the weather.

"If we get a blizzard like '78, there's nothing to stop it."

Steven Rosenberg can be reached at rosenberg@globe.com.