Removing Debris at the State Capitol in Salem, Oregon.

The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 (also known as the Big Blow)
was a Pacific Northwest windstorm that originated from typhoon
Freda and struck the West Coast of Canada and the Pacific
Northwest coast of the United States on October 12, 1962.

The system brought strong winds to the Pacific Northwest and southwest Canada. It was linked to 46 fatalities in the northwest
and Northern California resulting from heavy rains and mudslides. 

Estimates put the dollar damage at approximately $230 million to
$280 million for California, Oregon, and Washington combined.

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (now MetLife) named the
Columbus Day Storm the nation’s worst natural disaster of
1962.

The so-called “storm of the century” hit the eastern part of the
United States, killing hundreds and causing millions of dollars
in damages, on November 25, 1950.

Forming over North Carolina just before Thanksgiving, the storm
quickly moved north, striking western Pennsylvania, eastern
Ohio and West Virginia. These areas were blanketed with several
feet of snow for several days and travel was impossible for nearly
a week in some places.

An accompanying windstorm covered a far greater area. New York
City recorded a 94 mile-per-hour wind gust. At Bear Mountain, just
north of the city, a 140 mph gust was recorded.

On the morning of Friday, October 12, 1962—Columbus Day—a
massive storm hit the coast of northern California. The storm had originated several days earlier in the Pacific Ocean, about five
hundred miles north of Wake Island. 

Re-energized by a combination of unusual meteorological
conditions, the storm moved north with the gathering force
of a Category 3 hurricane. Originally named Typhoon Freda by meteorologists and called the Big Blow by many, it may have
been the most powerful extratropical cyclone ever to hit the
western United States.

Oregon experienced the full brunt of the typhoon and suffered
more damage than any other state. In addition to substantial
damage to thousands of buildings— residential, commercial,
and civic—and to miles of power lines, the severe winds
toppled countless trees in western Oregon’s forests.

The storm outranks all other natural disasters in the state in
terms of destruction and cost, including the 1903 Heppner
Flood. 

The intense winds left over a million people in Oregon without
electrical power, some of them for weeks.

      
ROSS SIMPSON

October 12th, 1962 saw landfall of Tropical Storm Freda on
to the Pacific Coast. The center of what was to become known
as the Columbus Day Storm paralleled the Northern California,
Oregon and Washington Coast a mere 50 miles away from
shore before it dissipated over Vancouver Island on October
17th, 1962.

Portland City Hall