The nine-inch snowfall that’s already melting away reminds some Iowans of the big storm that hit the state thirty years ago. On April 8, 1973, a storm dumped as much as 20-inches of snow across the central part of the state, and the east was hit particularly hard. School was called off for a whole week in West Delaware schools, where Dick Justice was director of transportation, buildings and grounds at the time.Justice says everyone had to dig out and even then they had plenty of problems — like a drift the county cut through that he says was as deep as the schoolbus was tall. There weren’t many snowmobiles in those days, and Justice says that was about the only way people could get around. Then when it was time to come out, people just didn’t have equipment to handle such a heavy task, and quarries around town sent their heavy equipment in to help. There weren’t any major emergencies recorded in that storm, though plenty of travelers were inconvenienced and many other Iowans had to wait it out, snowed in at home.
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