WINNIPEG -- It may be a cloudy and snowy Friday, but at least a massive blizzard isn't heading towards the city.

Fifty years ago on March 4, 1966, a huge snow storm swept through the city shutting it down in a matter of hours. It was one of the worst blizzards on record.

The "mega blizzard" forced buses to stop running, and snowmobiles had to take nurses and doctors to work. More than 1,500 of people were stuck downtown and slept overnight inside Eatons and The Bay department stores.

Snow drifts buried cars, and also were so high they drifted right up to roof tops, according to the Weather Network. The blizzard was considered responsible for the deaths of two men who died of heart attacks while walking to their homes, at the height of the storm.

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