TIM MAGUIRE

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev speaking at the UN Assembly in 1960.

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

Scoreboard at Gresham High School in Gresham, Oregon.

A car flattened by a brick wall at NW 3rd and Everett St. in Portland, Oregon.

Peak gusts during Columbus Day Storm

The Columbus Day Storm 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.

Radio and TV broadcasting was affected in the Portland, Oregon area with
downed transmission towers and loss of equipment.

The entire power distribution system had to be rebuilt from the ground up
in much of the area. Some locations did not have power restored for several
weeks.

The Oregon Capitol grounds at Salem, and the state’s college campuses,
resembled battlefields with heavy losses of trees.

ROSS SIMPSON