March blizzard strands hundreds
March blizzard strands hundreds
By ALLAN TINKER
Central North Dakota was still in winter mode on Friday, March 11, when the forecasted winds and snow descended to stall traffic, interrupt power, and send people and schools scurrying to find safe homes for the night.
McClusky Public School sent out an instant alert for parents to come pick up their children; no buses would run into the country areas. Children would be sent to designated storm homes if not picked up at the school.
The City of McClusky suffered short breaks in electric service during the storm on Friday evening.
Goodrich Supt. Rod Scherbenske reported that, with a regular dismissal of 2:20 p.m., the buses were sent out only a half hour early and all made it through their routes without incident.
One bus route only had to travel to Denhoff as the rest of the students on that route had remained in Goodrich in preparation to travel to a speech meet in Harvey. That meet was later canceled.
The in-town students completed their regular classroom schedule before dismissal.
Turtle Lake, also announcing on the instant alert system, dismissed early with intentions to send buses out at noon. School Business Manager Sharon Hanson reported that by the time the buses had arrived to transport the students, the storm forced a change of plans. Students in TL-M were then sent to designated storm homes or were picked up at the school by parents or other caretakers.
