Some of you might have seen our recent post about the snowstorms in the US. However, you may or may not know that a much more devastating storm hit the east coast of America 128 years ago today.

On March 11th 1888, what came to be known as The Great White Hurricane caused three days of chaos across New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. It was one of the most severely recorded blizzards in the history of the United States and 400 people were estimated to have died as a result.

The storm left up to 60 inches (152cm) of snow and created towering snowdrifts 50ft (15 metres) high. Some people were stuck in their houses for a week (yes, that's right, without tv or internet) and trains and telephone lines were disabled.

Still, one good thing did come from the Great White Hurricane: the city of Boston, alarmed by the gridlock caused by the blizzard, decide to build a subway, and nine years later The Boston subway became the first underground rail network in the US.