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Holland Marsh Disaster
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Hurricane Hazel Rescuers

Rescuers search for trapped families in the Marsh, in aftermath of Hurricane Hazel. From "And The Swamp Flourished", by Albert VanderMey, published 1994, available in Bradford at d'Olde Stee.

Toronto Star

Hurricane Hazel Volunteers

Volunteers handing out meals and clothing for those relocated by the Holland Marsh flood after Hurricane Hazel hit the area. Helping serve the food are Mrs. C.J. Bowden, Mrs. Ben Steers, B.M. Evans, and G.E. Boyd.

Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library

Hwy 400 - Hurricane Aftermath

This photo is taken from west of Hwy. 400 after Hurricane Hazel (Oct. 15, 1954). Debris is shown piled up along Hwy. 400, which is on the far side of the hydro poles. The top of a long pile of bagged onions can be seen in the foreground. Note: onions were not used as sandbags.

Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library

Jake Verkaik House

Jake Verkaik's house and Rhebergen's trailer after Hurricane Hazel hit.

Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library

Million dollar wreck

"A freight train with 22 cars filled with gravel tore up 100 feet of track after it hit a spot on the tracks that was washed out by the more than three inches of rain that poured down on Bradford and Holland Marsh. Damages is estimated at over $1 million for the train wreck alone."

George Jackson

Remembering "Flood Hazel"

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

"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

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