The Big One! A Review of the March 12-14, 1993, "Storm of the Century"

Book excerpt: "On March 12-15, a storm now called "The Storm of the Century" struck the eastern seaboard. Following are the highlights of the information gathered about the storm thus far: The preliminary death toll for the U.S. is approximately 270, and 48 people were reported as missing at sea (Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic, including Canadian waters). This is over 3 times the combined death toll of 79 attributed to hurricanes Hugo and Andrew. The death toll includes those caused by direct and indirect (e.g., shoveling snow) results of the storm. Due to the widespread nature of the storm, assessing its toll has been quite difficult for damage survey teams--hurricanes are easier to assess due to their more limited areal coverage. The following breakdown by state (not including lost at sea) is still preliminary (its summation does not reflect all deaths from the storm): Florida-44; New York-23; South Carolina-1; Alabama-16; Georgia-15; Tennessee-14; North Carolina-19; Kentucky-5; Virginia-13; Maryland-3; West Virginia-4; Maine-2; Pennsylvania-49"--Page 1