Verkaik's Barn - Hurricane Hazel
- CA BWGPL LHC-Dis-Hazel-PH9383
- Item
- 1954
Part of Local History Collection
Onion topper in the Verkaik's barn after Hurricane Hazel.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
24 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects
Verkaik's Barn - Hurricane Hazel
Part of Local History Collection
Onion topper in the Verkaik's barn after Hurricane Hazel.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Part of Local History Collection
Sjoerd van der Kooi's home after Hurricane Hazel.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Part of Local History Collection
Store underwater in the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Part of Local History Collection
The interior of a store after hurricane Hazel.
If you have any information about this photo, please contact the Library at 905-775-3328
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Store interior - Hurricane Hazel
Part of Local History Collection
Auke Ellens' store interior after the flood of Hurricane Hazel
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Part of Local History Collection
The interior of store after hurricane Hazel.
If you have more information about this photo, please contact the Library at 905-775-3328
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Springdale Christian Reformed Church Flooded
Part of Local History Collection
Springdale Christian Reformed Church underwater.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Springdale Christian Reform Flooded
Part of Local History Collection
View towards Springdale Christian Reformed Church from Hillsview Road.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library
Springdale - Aftermath of Hurricane Hazel
Part of Local History Collection
Aerial view of Springdale Reformed Church in the flood after Hurricane Hazel
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