Toronto Disasters
Devastation and Tragedies that Made the Headlines
AUTHOR: Kathlyn Horibe
FORMAT: 5.5 x 8.5 pb / 120 pages
ISBN-10: 1-55439-032-X
ISBN-13: 978-155439-032-8
Canada's largest city often makes national headlines, not only for its successes and innovations, but also for its resilience in times of suffering. This collection highlights the wrath of Hurricane Hazel that pounded city homes; it remembers the urgent screams heard amidst the tangled wreckage of a nightmarish subway crash; and it recounts one icy night in 1904 when flames engulfed city buildings. These tragedies, and others, epitomize the strength and character of Torontonians in the face of disaster.
Prologue
Volunteer firefighter Bryan Mitchell will never forget Hurricane Hazel's night of devastation.
On October 15, 1954, I was on duty at the fire station in Etobicoke and all day long we received calls about flooded basements. Around 4 o'clock, I took another call. The railroad underpass at Kipling Avenue had flooded, trapping a truck. I suggested they call a nearby station for their aerial trucks because our station didn't have any. Moments later, they phoned back their aerials had gone into the ditch because of the rain.
I dispatched a ladder truck. By the time the firefighters arrived, water was up to the truck's cab. Four cars were also covered. The water kept going up and up and up. The firemen threw ropes across to the drivers, who had climbed onto the roofs of the higher vehicles. They tied themselves on and they were pulled to higher ground an hour later. Everyone went home and the rain seemed to abate a bit.
The crisis had been averted, or so he thought. Later the same day...
Around 9 p.m., the rain started pouring down again. The power went off and the winds were strong with a lot of lightning strikes. I got a house fire all cleared up and I drove home around 11:00 p.m. I couldn't see where the road ended and the ditches started because the rain was coming down so hard. Cars were in ditches everywhere along the two-lane highway.
I tried to get some sleep but the hotline phone kept ringing. My father was chief of the department and the phone was connected to our house. But he was away at a firemen's convention in the U.S.
Then a call came in about a flooded dance hall up in Thistletown. Then a second call came in about a man stuck on the Phillips Road Bridge. Both sides of the approaches were washed away. I said I would drop by to see what's happening on my way to Thistletown.
Bryan Mitchell hadn't planned on what happened next.
About the Author
Kathlyn Horibe writes and edits corporate communications and marketing texts for companies and associations. Her publishing credits include magazines and newspapers in Canada, the United States, Europe, and New Zealand. Prior to embarking upon a career as a writer, she held various management positions and lived in Toronto for two years.
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