TORNADOES THAT ripped through East Baltimore on Nov. 1 certainly made the list of the city's worst disasters. Some 130 East Baltimore homes were damaged, and the city's bill for storm-related problems is more than $3 million.
But a review of the city's history shows we've survived some real beauts!
* "The Great Baltimore Fire": On Sunday morning, Feb. 7, 1904, a fire began in John E. Hurst & Co., a dry goods firm located at Hopkins Place and Liberty Street. The first alarm was sounded at 10:48 a.m. Before the fire was brought under control -- about a week later -- 140 acres of downtown Baltimore, including 1,545 buildings would be destroyed.
The fire, which was one-half-mile wide, was fanned by a strong west wind as it moved eastward. At 6 a.m. the next morning the wind lessened in intensity and shifted to the south.
The rebuilding of the city after the fire was Baltimore's first renaissance.
* Tropical storm Agnes: Late on the afternoon of June 21, 1972, Baltimoreans returning home from work in a heavy downpour already knew they would be in for a long night. The weather forecasters had predicted severe heavy rains and flooding. And they were right.
The next day, the Jones Falls broke over its banks, flooding the Jones Falls Expressway with as much as two feet of water. Residents living below the Lake Roland Dam were evacuated.
Train service was canceled. Large areas were left without any utilities. Gov. Marvin Mandel called out the National Guard to aid the flood victims.
In Owings Mills a man's body was spotted floating down Reisterstown Road. Six automobiles were turned over and carried into an open field by the raging water.
Property losses were in the millions. But the 13 Marylanders who died were the most incalculable loss resulting from the storm.
* Two snowstorms: Early on the evening of Feb. 1, 1979, snow began falling. Meteorologists had predicted that a total of six inches would fall by morning. Later that was revised to two feet by noon. By afternoon, four- to six-foot drifts blanketed Baltimore, trapping many people in their homes for up to a week.
Buses were abandoned in the middle of streets -- stopped by the heavy snow. Johns Hopkins Hospital advised all incoming patients, if possible, to postpone their admissions.
Some locals -- realizing that the police were virtually immobile, too -- took advantage of the situation by looting in West Baltimore.
To restore order, Mayor William Donald Schaefer imposed a 7 p.m. curfew. The National Guard was called in to help.
Another heavy snowstorm that many remember began on Saturday morning, March 29, 1942, with a heavy downpour. No one thought much about it. After all, the next day was Palm Sunday; it doesn't snow on Palm Sunday in Baltimore. Or so we thought. Baltimoreans rose the next morning to find two feet of snow on the ground.
Meteorologists called it a "freak" snowstorm that couldn't have been predicted. Phone and power lines snapped under the weight of the snow. Monday's newspapers reported that church attendance was off that Palm Sunday.
* Baltimore on the rocks: Of course, many of us will not soon forget last winter's long freeze. That's when much of the city was under a sheet of ice for several weeks, trapping us in our homes, closing schools, governments and businesses.
But, of course, we're ready for this winter. Let it snow. After all, how bad can it get?