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February 6, 2008

Blizzard of '78 anniversary: Reflecting on visions in plaid

Journal file photo
Richard A. Bouchard, left, uses a walkie-talkie at Civil Defense headquarters at the State House as then-Gov. J. Joseph Garrahy, in his famous plaid shirt, and others look on.

There was another man in plaid during the Blizzard of '78.

According to Journal photo archives, Richard A. Bouchard was snapped wearing plaid pants on the job.

While then-Gov. J. Joseph Garrahy has gone down in local folklore as donning a casual plaid-flannel shirt and turtleneck as he oversaw operations during the storm, Bouchard not only was clad in plaid slacks, but with at least one rolled-up shirt sleeve.

Bouchard was part of the emergency team at the time. Five years after the storm that brought the state to a standstill, whose 30th anniversary is today, he was quoted in a Journal story as urging community officials not to be caught off guard in the event of another major storm.

The occasion was a gathering of officials called on Dec. 1, 1983, to call attention to being prepared for winter storms.

Then-senior telecommunications and warning officer with the state's Emergency Management Agency, Bouchard asked his audience of emergency officials, "If it had come up on a weekend, could you have gathered your troops as quickly?"

At that time, Bouchard noted that cable television presented a new wrinkle during a weather emergency, with cable lines just as susceptible to storm damage as telephone and power lines.

Maj. Gen. John W. Kiely, then-state adjutant general and emergency-management director, termed that 1983 conference "of critical importance. Our concern is that once a year, we face the possibility that (storms) may approach in any given time frame. The public should begin now to review their preparedness actions for the winter season."

Last Dec. 13, in an age of cell phones and high-tech weather reports, gaps in communication were blamed for the failure to act quickly and decisively during a weekday snowstorm that left much of the state crippled. With Governor Carcieri in Iraq, the EMA directors for the state and city of Providence later took the rap.

References to the Blizzard of '78 abounded.

While the Dec. 13 snowfall was minor compared to the Blizzard of '78, Providence police Sgt. Paul Zienowicz said that day "it's almost comparable" in the fact that businesses and other institutions dismissed employees early -- which caused massive congestion -- and some of those people abandoned cars after getting stuck in hours-long traffic jams.

Last month, Bouchard, now a reservist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was again quoted in a Journal story, this time assessing the response to that storm and the firing of state EMA director Robert Warren.

What's next?

Well, today's forecast calls for relatively mild, wet weather. But winter may return tomorrow, with some rain and sleet expected early and a chance of snow later.

Perhaps just enough of a chance to break out the plaid.

-- With Journal archival reports

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 9:15 AM | Permalink

Comments

Richard A. Bouchard | February 7, 2008 5:42 AM link

nancy bouchard | February 7, 2008 7:11 AM link

walt belsito | February 17, 2008 8:20 PM link

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