FROM TODAY'S PRINT EDITIONS:
One of the greatest nor’easters on record struck 49 years ago today. The “Ash Wednesday Storm,” as it came to be known, generated 70 mph winds that piled up 40-foot ocean waves. Ocean City sustained major damage. High “spring” tides submerged Assateague Island. Coastal damage from North Carolina to Long Island was estimated at $200 million in 1962 dollars. New Jersey saw 45,000 homes damaged or destroyed. Heavy snow fell in the Appalachians. Forty people died.
(AP PHOTO: Roberto Borea, February 1998)