Bradford - A tornado smashed through Bradford yesterday at around 3:30p.m., causing considerable damage. There were no reports of injuries. Fletcher St. was the hardest area hit, with residents reporting shingles torn off roods, trees uprooted, windows smashed, small sheds torn to pieces and fibreglass insulation spread everywhere. Part of the roof of the Fletcher St. home of Bradford doctor Larry Barcza was ripped off. Stanley and Muriel Cairns were driving to their home at the corner of Scanlon Ave. and Colburne St. when the twister struck. "There was a great ball of flames," Mr. Cairns said. It was later found that they saw an optical illusion caused by the wind ripping off red fibreglass roofing insulation. Mrs. Cairns added "When we were coming down the road we could see debris flying through the air." The couple, who moved into their house six years ago, lost their back patio. Mrs. Cairns said the sound of the storm was "terrible - just like a roar." She said she'd never seen such a storm, and added "you wouldn't want to, either." Just down the street form the Cairns on John St., Luis Moniz didn't see the storm, but he felt it. He was inside his house when the tornado hit and told reporters he could feel the velocity of the winds. At Fred C. Cook Public School there were a few children playing on the school grounds just before the twister struck. A workman at the school, Robert Laraby, told The Witness the doors of the school couldn't be closed because of the force of the wind. he said the lights went out and a picnic table outside was blown away. "The kids were getting extremely nervous." He said the tornado lasted about two to three minutes. Desmond Paul Smith was on his way home to his Holland St. apartment when it struck. He was heading north through the main intersection when he saw "stuff going up in the air and a big bolt of lightning. It knocked lines out and I saw flames from the hydro poles." He said he saw branches as long as 6 ft. going 300 ft into the air, and saw huge trees knocked over with their roots exposed. Mr. Smith said he warned a man on the street that there was a tornado coming and the man didn't believe him. "Then he looked behind him and started to run." The Bradford man also saw the 20-ft. hole in the roof of International Fruit Distributors and said staff there showed him a huge tractor trailer which had been lifted several feet to a new resting place by the force of the winds. Traffic lights at the main intersection were knocked out and power was blacked out in several areas around town. Power was restored in some areas at 6 p.m. Hail the size of mothballs also swept through the town. By press time damage estimates were unavailable. Shocked resident toured Fletcher St. to view the worst of the damage. Bradford police reported numerous minor car accidents, and the Bradford Fire Department was kept busy responding to calls about downed power lines. Minutes after the tornado struck, an official of the weather office at Toronto International airport confirmed that tornado warnings had been issued for a large area of southern Ontario. It appears Bradford was the hardest hit area. The Witness office on Dissette St. was also blacked out by the tornado, and staff put together the final pages of this edition with manual equipment by candlelight. Our thanks to Newmarket photo lab for the use of their facilities.
The following photos were part of a News-photo story about the fire in Bradford in 1988. The first photo's caption reads: "Possible electrical trouble is the suspected cause of Thursday's $3 million fire in Bradford. Al Nosworthy, of the Ontario Fire Marshall's office, says materials recovered from the blaze will be forwarded to the Canadian Standards Association for detailed examination. "We are satisfied it wasn't arson," Nosworthy said yesterday, adding that some wiring may have possibly shorted out. "When the flames started, they went high in the walls, above the sprinkler system and up on the roof where they were fanned by strong north-east winds." The building was about 40 years old and used to be an ice house before it was used for storage. Wooden chips were used as insulation in parts of the structure. Nosworthy said insurance representatives have been through the remains but said they may not be able to put an exact dollar figure on the damage. "We may never really know." "
Description : "All those who were living in the Holland Marsh and other low-lying areas during the Hurricane Hazel flood on October 15, 1954, wish to express their deepest thanks for the help they received from the surrounding communities, such as Bradford and Schomberg. With unselfish effort, they went out of their way to help those who lost homes, crops and personal belongings on that terrible night. Many organizations and individuals put in great efforts to rescue people from their second storeys or attics, ferried them to "dry" land, supplied food and clothing, and opened their homes to those who had no place to go. They assisted in the rebuilding and repairing of the damage. They supplied the facilities to repair damage done to submerged tractors and other farm equipment. The session of the Presbyterian Church in Bradford and Schomberg offered the use of their church buildings, and the council of the Springdale Christian Reformed Church wishes to again express its sincere thanks. A tremendous effort was put forth to set up a trailer park with washroom and laundry facilities. All this, in spite of the damage they suffered themselves from Hurricane Hazel's fury. Last but not least, we should think the Mennonite Relief organization, whose members showed up every day by busloads to help repair our homes."
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."
