- CA BWGPL LHC-Dis-Hazel-2016-11-04-04
- Item
- 1979
Part of Local History Collection
Meeting on the Highway 400 for clean-up. Photograph from in Betty Kennedy's 'Hurricane Hazel,' found in the Local History Collection.
Toronto Telegram
Part of Local History Collection
Meeting on the Highway 400 for clean-up. Photograph from in Betty Kennedy's 'Hurricane Hazel,' found in the Local History Collection.
Toronto Telegram
Part of Local History Collection
Jake Verkaik's house and Rhebergen's trailer after Hurricane Hazel hit.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Marsh residents recall Hazel's devastation 25 years ago
Part of Local History Collection
Article on the 25th anniversary of Hurricane Hazel, with recollections from Marsh and Bradford residents
Bradford Witness
Men on a boat - Aftermath of Hurricane Hazel
Part of Local History Collection
G. Van der Kooi, F. Weening and Sjeord Van der Kooi stand with the flooded Marsh behind them.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Ontario Premier Frost Pays Second Visit to Bradford
Part of Local History Collection
"After visiting the scene of the marshland flood here on Monday, attending an organization meeting and promising $100,00 to start the work of clearing and rebuilding, the Premier returned again yesterday, this time accompanied by Ontario Minister of Agriculture Thomas. ..."
Bradford Witness
Progress in Holland Marsh Drainage talks
Part of WEGWHIST Collection
Description : "If even the "tail end" of a hurricane were to hit southern Ontario, the Holland Marsh could face serious flooding, with damages in the $110-$200 million range. The problem? Since 1954, when Hurricane Hazel cause extensive flooding, the south canal has silted in. The Holland Marsh Drainage Committee is considering every option but even with the Roads department picking up a portion of the cost, the amount the marsh farmers would have to pay would be crippling."
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Part of Local History Collection
Description : "Reginald Kuzyk was 30 years old, and an employee of the department of Highways, back on October 15th, 1954, when Hurricane Hazel hit.
The storm brought torrential rains and flooding. Dams burst, and homes were swept away in the floods. A total of 81 people lost their lives in Ontario. The floodwaters had washed onions from Holland Marsh fields and heaped them on the highway in "gobs.... I never seen so many onions in one place. They were all over the ground, and everywhere." He also remembers seeing two homes, which had drifted on the floodwaters until they washed up next to the highway. By the time Hazel blew itself out, more than seven thousand acres of farmland on both sides of the 400 were under water, covered by a lake more than 7' deep in places.
George Sadovchuk's described the Marsh after Hurricane Hazel as "it was just a lake. It was very impressive to see all that water where once was viable land... I was just amazed at the destruction that took place."
Relief efforts brought the homeless into Bradford, to the Town Hall, where they were clothed and fed by volunteers. A total of 25 pumps took about 4 weeks to drain the fields, at a peak pumping 220,000 gallons per minute. But it would take months to clear the debris and repair the damage. Seventy families - 350 men, women and children - spent the winter that followed in a trailer park, set up by the Rotary Club on the site of the Bradford Arena.
The sky was appropriately grey, for Sunday's historic tour of the Holland Marsh. The tour not only commemorated the 200th Anniversary of Yonge Street, but also the 42nd anniversary of Hurricane Hazel."
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Rich Garden Lands Flooded When Water Overflows Dikes
Part of Local History Collection
"Holland Marsh residents and everyone living in this district will always remember "Hurrican [sic] Hazel" and the worst storm in Ontario's history, a storm which inundated the rich Holland Marsh gardens, ruining all crops yet to be harvested, sweeping buildings away in the water currents, and submerging some of the most beautiful homes of the district under feet of dirty water. ..."
Bradford Witness
Robert Saunders and the pumping of the Marsh
Part of Local History Collection
Robert Saunders (left) and numerous other companies came to the aid of the Holland Marsh, offering their equipment free of charge to pump out the flood water. The Marsh was dry again by November 13th.
Toronto Telegram
Part of WEGWHIST Collection
The hamlet of Springdale taken prior to the flood caused by Hurricane Hazel (Oct. 15, 1954) Photo is taken facing north.
Rob Watson