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"Immediate credit, to the extent of $100,000 by the Provincial Government, was promised by Premier Leslie Frost within a matter of minutes after his arrival by car to attend a meeting with the Holland Marsh Emergency Relief Committee, held in the Township of West GWillimbury municipal office on Monday. ..."

"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. ..."

Mural on the south side of 13 John St., contains 11 'postcards and stamps' depicting events and the local history of Bradford, created in 1996 by Angel Lariviere. This photograph is the titular postcard alongside one depicting the Holland Marsh and Springdale flood during Hurricane Hazel (Oct 15, 1954).

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."

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."

"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. ..."

"A Department of Highways bulletin announced the following highways closed as a result of the flood in this area: ..."

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.

The hamlet of Springdale taken prior to the flood caused by Hurricane Hazel (Oct. 15, 1954) Photo is taken facing north.

Aerial view of Springdale Reformed Church in the flood after Hurricane Hazel