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Hurricane Hazel: Canada's Storm of the Century
On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel battered southern Ontario, leaving in its wake a terrible toll: thousands homeless, million in property damage, and, worst of all, 81 people dead. Hazel destroyed bridges, submerged towns, and drowned unsuspecting Ontarians in their homes and cars. Raymore Drive in Weston was decimated when the Humber River swelled by eight feet, taking the lives of 32 residents in only one hour. In Etobicoke, five volunteer firemen drowned while trying to reach marooned motorists. Towns and villages from Toronto north to Timmins felt Hazel's fury.
After the storm, people walked the now-surreal streets of their towns: cars upside-down and wrapped in power lines, iceboxes and dead cows hanging from trees, houses flattened, toys and furniture floating down the street.
On the 50th anniversary of the storm, Jim Gifford has captured that fatal night in the voices of those who survived it, from residents who lived along the surging Humber River to a policeman who rescued families from their rooftops to firemen and Boy Scouts who searched for victims along the riverbanks. Including more than 100 never-before-published photographs, Hurricane Hazel: Canada's Storm of the Century documents one of the worst natural disasters in Canadian history.
After the storm, people walked the now-surreal streets of their towns: cars upside-down and wrapped in power lines, iceboxes and dead cows hanging from trees, houses flattened, toys and furniture floating down the street.
On the 50th anniversary of the storm, Jim Gifford has captured that fatal night in the voices of those who survived it, from residents who lived along the surging Humber River to a policeman who rescued families from their rooftops to firemen and Boy Scouts who searched for victims along the riverbanks. Including more than 100 never-before-published photographs, Hurricane Hazel: Canada's Storm of the Century documents one of the worst natural disasters in Canadian history.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 11, 2020
I discovered Hurricane Hazel: Canada's Storm of the Century by Jim Gifford while perusing the bibliographies (as I always do) of the Toronto history books I most recently read. It was a short read of 101 pages, and filled with black-and-white photos of the devastation that struck Toronto on the night of October 15, 1954 when Hurricane Hazel plowed through Toronto, killing 81 and leaving four thousand families homeless. It was not as if I had never read about this natural disaster before, yet this book, published in 2004 to mark the fiftieth anniversary, had never crossed my path.
The text was rich with history and made for captivating reading, as this was much more than a photo album. Gifford found witnesses to the hurricane and persuaded some who lived through it to give interviews. Some of these people provided their own photos for inclusion, thus the "more than 100 never-before-published photographs" were a highlight of this book. What I found most amazing was the confined regionality of the devastation; for example, people who lived in eastern Toronto were oblivious to the carnage that decimated their city only a few miles away. When the Humber River flooded, it washed away houses, cars and people. Sixty-six years ago boy scout troops were sent out to comb the river for dead bodies. That would never be done today.
As I was reading this book I had a most peculiar feeling of déjà vu. While I was reading Al Brierley's account of driving through the flooded underpass just east of Dufferin and King, I was on a streetcar heading east on King towards Shaw. I was struck by that coincident moment, put the book down and looked out as the streetcar just then rode through that very same underpass.
The text was rich with history and made for captivating reading, as this was much more than a photo album. Gifford found witnesses to the hurricane and persuaded some who lived through it to give interviews. Some of these people provided their own photos for inclusion, thus the "more than 100 never-before-published photographs" were a highlight of this book. What I found most amazing was the confined regionality of the devastation; for example, people who lived in eastern Toronto were oblivious to the carnage that decimated their city only a few miles away. When the Humber River flooded, it washed away houses, cars and people. Sixty-six years ago boy scout troops were sent out to comb the river for dead bodies. That would never be done today.
As I was reading this book I had a most peculiar feeling of déjà vu. While I was reading Al Brierley's account of driving through the flooded underpass just east of Dufferin and King, I was on a streetcar heading east on King towards Shaw. I was struck by that coincident moment, put the book down and looked out as the streetcar just then rode through that very same underpass.
July 31, 2016
Interesting to see all of the old photos and read about what happened. Short and informative based on stories from local folks and the archives.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews