Hurricane Hazel

Photos by Alan L Brown - May 2005

All the ground you see in this photo was, for a short but devastating time, under a LOT of water. The year: 1954. The month: October. The unexpected event: Hurricane Hazel. An Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque plus two other plaques tells us about this disaster. The Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque, visible in the photo near the Old Mill subway station, has this to say:

On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel hit southern Ontario with 110 km/h winds and over 200 mm of rain. Many rivers, including the Humber, Don and Rouge overflowed flooding communities in much of southern Ontario. The storm killed 81 people, left 1868 families homeless, and caused extensive property damage. International and local donations to a flood relief fund assisted victims, and all three levels of government shared the expenses of paying for property damage and removing houses located in floodplains. Hurricane Hazel's legacy was the development of a sophisticated weather warning system for the province, measures to conserve the watersheds of major rivers, and a continually evolving system of flood warning and control.

Plaque Location Co-ordinates: 43.648924 -79.492478

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Photo by Alan L Brown - September 2006

A plaque erected by Metropolitan Toronto Parks and Property is located here in Marie Curtis Park in the south-west corner of the city at the mouth of Etobicoke Creek between the creek and the parking lot off 42nd Street. It has this to say:

On October 16, 1954, Metropolitan Toronto experienced wide-spread devastation and extensive loss of life as a result of Hurricane Hazel. Many people acted very bravely in their attempts to help and rescue their fellow citizens. This plaque is to commemorate those that lost their lives and those that displayed such acts of courage and heroism in this area.

Plaque Location Co-ordinates: 43.586631 -79.543633

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Photo by Alan L Brown - July 2007

A 1955 plaque erected by the Kingsway-Lambton Volunteer Fire Dept. and Lakeshore District Firemen is located here in Home Smith Park about half way south from Dundas Street to Old Mill Road on a large rock near the river. A duplicate of the plaque is located at Toronto Fire Station 431 at 308 Prince Edward Drive South, a couple of blocks south of Bloor Street. The plaque has this to say:

In proud memory of these men of the Kingsway-Lambton Volunteer Fire Department: Clarence (Tiny) Collins, Frank Mercer, Roy Oliver, David Palmateer, Angus Small. They lost their lives in the swollen Humber River while on rescue work during Hurricane Hazel, 16th October 1954. Faithful unto death.

Plaque Location Co-ordinates: 43.657991 -79.500160

Related Toronto plaque pages
Raymore Bridge
Bailey Bridge Construction

More Disaster pages
More Etobicoke pages

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Here are the comments for this page.

Posted September 14, 2008
Hazel came to Ontario 2 years before I was born, but I remember all the stories I heard about it. Nobody could forget the wrath of Hazel.

Posted September 6, 2008
there is actually a second bridge of this type in the same area @ the base of twin rivers.

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