Many Steinbach residents will remember 50 years ago today, the storm of March 4, 1966.

Leona Hildebrand lives in Steinbach, although her parents and older sister were living five miles out of Altona at the time. Hildebrand notes her mom was pregnant with her and the night before the storm her parents were encouraged to drive into town.

"I've been told that one of my uncle's came with his pick-up truck because there was already a fair bit of snow on the ground," says Hildebrand. "He came and drove them into town and they stayed with my grandparents. Then when my mom went into labour, by then there was so much snow on the ground, they had to call road clearing equipment to come and open the road for them to get the three blocks to the hospital."

Hildebrand says she has been told the doctor walked to the hospital on snowshoes to be there for the delivery.

Meanwhile, Jac Siemens was living on what is now known as Hespler Street South and was the Principal of Kornelson School. Siemens says the storm came very quickly and was a complete white out which lasted 16 to 20 hours.

"It really blew very hard and we had snow banks that were huge. For example, on Main Street in Steinbach, they were as high as the buildings in places and travel was impossible by the usual method of cars."

He notes snowmobiles became important as they would deliver groceries, medication and even bring people to the hospital if necessary. Siemens adds it was interesting how the whole community worked together to help wherever help was needed. He says the electricity was also out for a week in areas and a warming station was set up for those who needed to take refuge from the cold.

"They brought in a generator to bring some power to the gas furnaces so they could keep the building nice and warm. They brought in some beds, Red Cross beds, and helped people who couldn't manage at home anymore, they were brought to the school (Kornelson School) so they could be in a warm place. That was a real help for a few people whose houses got too cold."

Siemens says although the storm was an inconvenience for some it was also a fun time of helping each other and coping with the emergency. He adds there were people who had wood stoves in their homes and allowed others to come heat up soups so their families could have a warm meal.

Siemens' son Dan Siemens notes he was 10-years old at the time and remembers he and his siblings stayed under the blankets to keep warm while their parents brought them meals. Siemens adds he also remembers going to Winnipeg not long after the storm.

"I think it was around Polo Park, and I climbed one of the snow banks, and standing on one of the snow banks I could see the top of a transit bus as it was driving underneath. A transit bus is usually 12 ot 13 feet high and I was able to look overtop of the bus."

Mary Koop, who was 34 at the time, still has the diary entry from that snowy day.

"We're having the biggest snow storm of the season," she writes. "Then [my husband] says, I walked home from CT's over big snow drifts right on Main Street. Then the next morning, that's the fifth, I walked to work in the morning. Never seen so much snow before, some vehicles are almost covered with snow right on the street."

Koop adds she remembers she was thinking of ways to keep herself busy and wanted to sew, but realized her sewing machine was electric and the power was out.

The storm had 80 km/hr winds with gusts of 190 km/hr and dropped 35.5 centimetres of snow in southern Manitoba. The storm also forced approximately 1,600 people to spend the night in the Winnipeg downtown Eaton's and The Bay stores while others were trapped in buses and on city streets.

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The following memory of the storm was submitted by Ernest Braun of Tourond:

This storm actually showed up in Steinbach in the evening of Thursday, March 3, so much so that at the end of special teacher’s meeting at Steinbach Collegiate Institute, the emcee commented that men should be wary of shovelling, given the high incidence of heart attacks under such circumstances. I was attending the event as a student guest, only 18 years of age, and so I was not worried. However, should the storm interfere with Friday or Saturday, that would be disastrous for me and four others who were slated to travel to Winnipeg after school to tape our first “Reach for the Top” TV program at CBC.

School was in fact cancelled for Friday March 4. A few of us young bucks, freed from the obligation to attend classes, walked along Main Street with the deluded and vain intent of helping to push cars out of the snow. For the first time, snowmobiles came into their own, roaring around on the streets in unbridled triumph at being called upon for every conceivable kind of emergency. Sunday it was bitterly cold, but we walked to church as usual over high banks on Hanover Street which was still totally snowed shut. The high winds had hardened the snow, and so we could walk right over the shrubs and fences.

Roads were impassable in town most of the weekend, so in the end we were unable to reach Winnipeg until Monday, the day of the TV show. Travel even then was precarious, since only one lane of snow had been cleared at most places. We did arrive at CBC studios at the time specified, and taped the entire session, not quite live, but finishing just before the program went on air. The special feature of the contest was the opportunity for each of us to tell a brief anecdote about the storm, and we were rated on interest and suspense I suppose. There were five of us, four on the set: Ken, who became a medical doctor, Ed a lawyer, Jack an electrical engineer, myself, a mere English teacher, and one alternate, Riley who became an IT man.