Hurricane Hazel in Toronto

Nice job Steve! My dad was a delivery boy for CP Telegraphs, and lost his job because he couldn't get to work on the day of Hurricane Hazel. He loved to tell that story.

I remember, as a 6-year old, sitting in our living room window watching Hazel. I've not seen a storm that comes close to matching it in ferocity since then. I can only describe the way the trees moved as "writhing." We lived only about 2 miles from Raymore Drive but were relatively unaffected. I still love a good thunderstorm.

When Hurricane Hazel hit, we'd been in Canada for just over a year. Despite the pelting rain and winds, my English born Mum made her way to the local fish and chip shop to get our dinner. A semi regular treat for us ! The store keeper smiled at my Mum - who was a fairly regular customer of his - and said " WOW - you must really love your fish and chips to come out in this weather !" One of our favorite family stories down through the years.

Love that you added the map and showed the flooding, and not just told. It really adds to the video! Well done, again.

I was a six year old kid living in Brampton, just northwest of Toronto and was woken about 2am by my parents who let me gaze out the window as the hurricane passed dumping huge amounts of rain and filling the small Main Creek just across the street from our house on Lowes Ave. I was stunned as the water had risen about 20 feet and was lapping onto our street. Fortunately our then small town wasn't serious damaged and no one was injured, but some 70 years later that night remains fress in my mind.

My mother often talked about Hurricane Hazel. It hit 6 days before my 1st birthday.

My father lived in lower Milton where it meets the town of Oakville at 6th line and lower base line when Hurricane Hazel occurred.The creek behind his house had several large boulders,one which he claimed was about 10 feet high and roughly 2 and half tons in weight.The water swelled and pushed that boulder several hundred yards where it rested on a tree and bush plateau.When he passed in 2020,I scattered his ashes in that same creek as per his wishes.Nicklaus Seidl Jr.1929 to 2020.

in 1954 my family still lived in the jewish market, when we moved to longbranch in 1970 my grandad told us a story that really bothered him, during the aftermath of the hurricane, men were hired in a hurry to go out in small boats and retrieve non survivors. Grampy was in a row boat with a few other guys just off the shore of what is now marie curtis park, he saw what they thought was a child victim, red hair, a toddler, they all cried quietly as they tried with great difficulty and for a long time, to row thru the debris (and there was a lot, it was almost thick enuf to walk on, so he often said). After a long time, they got there, it was NOT a child, it was a large plastic "walking doll". He said they were lucky & never found any victims, but that dolly sure scared the crap out of him! Great Channel, more west end content please❤ 🙂🙂🙂

My parents were married on October 16, 1954 in Toronto. Over the years we’ve heard many stories about Hurricane Hazel. My mother is ninety-five now and remembers it well. Loved your video, thank you!

Thanks for this video. I was 10 in '54 and all over parts of southern Ontario there was major damage from Hurricane Hazel. My Uncle drove myself & my parents out around the countryside near our home in London. I was in awe of what wind can do. A piece of straw was jammed into a telephone pole like a spike! Metal from a barn roof was wrapped so tightly around a tree, you could make out the outline of the bark underneath of it! I was also only two blocks away from a Sunday afternoon tornado that ripped a path through south London 50 some years ago. I'm 80 now and tornado warnings still unsettle me!

During the storm in Toronto at its peak October 15- 16 1954 , the week after October 24 1954 i turned 9 months old here in Mimico . My parents over the years told me about it . 5/18/2024 🤠 i STILL live on the same street (2024 )

Thank you, this is a great video! This event is still very relevant to us all today: in addition to rainwater runoff into streams and rivers, a long-period wave called a "seiche" was the other source of flooding and damage during Hurricane Hazel. As of only a few years ago, residents of Toronto and the surrounding regions will now find exemptions on their home insurance policies for damage caused by "seiches".

this is excellent work. good for an urban geography class.

Great video! My family was living at Jane & Wilson at the time of Hurricane Hazel. I was a toddler then so I had no memory, although years later whenever we drove to visit friends on Albion Road, my parents would tell me all about the devastation Hazel brought to that area of the Humber. I can't imagine how frightened they would have been at that time. Thank you for the video!

We will never forget. My husband and his family were evacuated from Raymore drive and eventually their house was torn down. They lived on the west ? side of the street and during the night some good Samaritan put their dog in their car and he survived. I and my family were technically on high ground, but I clearly remember sitting at the top of our cellar steps watching our belongings in the basement floating by. We were on a sump pump which could not handle all the water. Sad time.

In 1954 I turned 5 y/o, oddly enough I remember Hurricane Hazel. I was in Kindergarten and my mom thinking we were getting rain sent me to school that morning, (That is right I am 5 years old and my mom did not take me to school but like every morning sent me to school 3 blocks away - 1950s) Anyway when my class ended at noon I went home, I had to hold my coat closed because of the wind and the water on the sidewalk was over the tops of my boots.When I got home I was soaked through.

I was 8 years old when this happened. I lived a few kilometers from the disaster area on higher ground. I don’t remember much - but I was interested in newspapers at a young age. And I remember the Toronto Telegram headline: “ Hurricane Hazel Heading Here”.

So well explained, cannot be improved, thank you

actually here is an interesting fact my grandfather when he returned from WW2 almost bought one of those houses that washed away during Hazel but didn't because his mother reminded him that his older brother drowned in the Don River (September 1921) so he veered away from that ended up in Leaside Same grandfather worked for Bell Telephone which during he worked for 72 hours straight

I was 18 months old on a ship in the St Lawrence and we had to hold position because we could not land in Montreal because of Hurricane Hazel