The Blizzard of 1993 "STORM OF THE CENTURY"

Not since 1899 was there a storm like it. the massive blizzard of 1993 that swept through the Appalachians with brutal fury. Roofs caved in, 500 deaths in southeast.

Where I was on Beech Mountain, eastern America's highest incorporated town, over two hundred were stranded at the slopes. Many ski Beech lifts had to be evacuated and those who tried to hike home because their cars were covered with snow succumbed to hypothermia. they were rescued by our mountain police.
The pelting of snow and high winds were relentless. As I stood watching the fury out my double pane storm windows i realized that my husband and son may not be able to make it home.Joshua was in the valley town of Valley Crusis My all weather police radio was telling me how couples were being separated from one another all over the mountain. Stranded everywhere. Big ten car pile ups up at Fred's country Store.
A call came in from my husband who was in charge of the Ski Beech Security team of about twelve. "Bev, listen...I cannot leave my men. we may lose power and this may be my last call to you....we are running our three snowmobiles to take the women and small children home first and may run out of gas.....
If the roof begins to go, Bev take that key to the Delongs house nest door and go over there....they have a new roof. " "BOB WHAT ABOUT THE DOGS" (we had two big dogs and two cats) "Never mind the dogs Bev, you have to save yourself" Click...he hung up...guess he was so busy.
Well, no way i would trek next door in pitch darkness trying to fight a rising snow drift and did not know what sort of heat they had or anything.Not only that I was not about to leave my beautiful 10 year old German Sheppard "Mindy" who would gladly give her life to save me" nor would i leave her son, Bozo a mixed breed of part lab and the two cats. I might not make it through the heavy snow drifts and the wind as houses on Beech Mountain are wide apart. Gratitude filled my heart as i was all cozy with the state of the art wood stove my Dad had bought for us. We kept enough wood at all times to last two weeks or more....and more was stacked with a tarp over it on the front deck...I was grateful for all the training Bob had given me with the Coleman lantern, the beautiful oil lanterns we had in every room, the down sleeping bags used for camping in freezing weather in case we lose all heat..The purpose of our wood stove was in case of a BIG STORM SUCH AS THIS..Then he trained me how to work the wood stove which was really tricky. Lots of things could go wrong. the homes were all made of wood, so one had to be careful to have a slow fire and keep it going. As i kept feeding the logs into the fire, settling myself right in front of it where I would stay all night long ....for it was not long before our phones went dead and all power went out all over our mountain. It was really SCARY TO BE ALL ALONE....especially with windows rattling and whole house shaking and the special radio telling me that the news of a shelter roof caving in in Newland, next town from us. They were trying to evacuate the people in the shelter..I thought of what Bob said about our roof. "Please dear Lord, keep our roof from caving in and keep me and my dogs and cats safe"
Dosing off and on as i was too excited to sleep and knew I could not let the fire go out ....I also knew the heat tape around the pipes would not be working so pipes could freeze so I let a small drip go in all faucets that Bob had also trained me to do and that would keep our pipes from freezing. Our lazer propane heater had gone off hours before.
Once when I loaded a piece of wood that was too fat to go all the way in the wood stove opening, it got hung up and would not go all the way in and HALF of it was on fire...I had my fireproof heavy gloves on thank GOD...and yanked it out and quickly opened the front door with other hand and pushed my way over to railing of deck and tossed it into the snow..."Good work, Bev, i thought Bob did not teach me that one"
Morning came and we were totally snowed in. Storm was over, sun out, i had a time trying to remove enough snow to let the dogs go poop on the front deck...No phones were working. radio was going non stop about the storm's aftermath....gradually after one more night alone you could see people begin to stir and it was kind of funny too, One man was pulling his kid in a sleigh...with high rubber boots on and I asked from my deck what was he looking for as he was digging in snow right in front of my house..."Think i lost my ROLEX right here, he said..
When the phones finally came on Bob called me and said that his men had to all sleep on the floor and cots, no one could get home yet..cars buried, snowmobiles out of gas, roads not drivable and would not be for maybe a week and longer in remote places...I got a call from one of my rich friends on the golf course (those homes were mansions) their heat was OUT...they had no power and no wood stoves. "Bev are you freezing" "Heck no, this wood stove heats our three bedroom chalet perfectly" I am cooking scrambled eggs and making coffee on the cook top stove (wood stove has cook top)
This went on for two more days and on the forth day I saw a RARE SIGHT .....there was Bob coming down the street with two big black garbage bags that he had placed around his legs with big rubber bands and it had taken him all morning or half the day to get home from his security office at the slopes...

He started right in shoveling us out and when he saw what a good job i had done with holding down our fort, keeping our pipes from freezing, he said to me "BEV, I HAD MY DOUBTS ABOUT YOU HERE ALL ALONE, A SPOILED ONLY CHILD, FORMER DEBUTANTE BUT GETTING THROUGH THIS STORM ALL ALONE WITHOUT OUR PIPES FREEZING AND YOUR PRAYERS TO SAVE THE ROOF...THIS QUALIFIES YOU AS A TRUE MOUNTAIN WOMAN..i was so pleased that i never forgot those words and to this day I dream back of that moment and all the inedible mountain times i had in the most beautiful place I feel God ever made. And that is why i call myself "Mountain Woman" Josh made it home too from his friends home with all kinds of incredible tales to tell. There were so many people stranded on beech Mountain. Couples ran out of money for they could not fly home..had to wire parents for money. The hotels and restaurants could not serve as no one could get to work to serve anyone. We took in a couple whose windows had been blown out. and gave them the guest room as did many residents on our mountain. After a while there was still no school so the parents started a shuttle to take our kids who loved to ski up to the top of White Lightening ski slope and then pick them up at bottom and drive them up again...as no lifts were running and whole mountain was paralyzed...the locals had a blast on their inner tubes, sleds, anything they could find for days till the schools reopened..End of this tale.