Beach Flood 1950

scotto

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The Beach Strip
#1
The Globe and Mail
Monday, November 27, 1950

Winds Roar Defiance As Volunteers Fight Burlington Area Flood.


By PHIL JONES Van Wagner's Beach, Nov. 28 (Staff), "The wind has died, thank God." An arm-weary Hamilton fireman dropped his shovel and looked up into the sky. A Red Cross volunteer stopped passing sandwiches and hot coffee. A St. John Ambulance corpsman looked around as he bandaged an injured boy's arm. Rapidly the word spread "the wind has died, we've won."


Shortly before last midnight several hundred men, women and children suddenly became aware of silence. All through the day while Nature went on the rampage against mankind living in the Burlington Beach area, there was one awful opponent that battered down every defense built against it. The wind was everywhere, it howled through trees and wires, made ordinary talk impossible, drowned out the rumble of truck motors, lashed Lake Ontario into a fury. Then suddenly it stopped. All was quiet.
The worst flood disaster in Burlington Beach history was over. But it left in its wake more than 500 homeless people, scores of injured and homes battered to the ground or washed away by the rampaging lake waters.

From Crescent Beach at the southern tip through Van Wagner's Beach and on to Burlington Beach proper, winds of gale force with gusts sometimes reaching 85 miles an hour, whipped Lake Ontario into a frenzy for over 11 hours. Scenes along the beaches were almost impossible to describe.
Nature's fury against man began here early Saturday morning. By noon some families had evacuated their homes. By mid-afternoon the wind had mounted to almost unbelievable force and hundreds of people were homeless while their homes were washed away.
But then came aid.
Hamilton city firemen, first aid men and women, personnel from the three forces and civilian volunteers from miles around, rushed to the sandbag dikes. An emergency flood relief committee was organized and the battle against the elements was on.
Men, women and children struggled to pour sand into sacks and paper bags. Some clung to safety ropes as they piled the sandbags up into dikes. The first sandbag dike was washed away, then the second, but still the fight went on. The water continued its climb inland and the wind roared its defiance.
Coffee and food were hastily passed around the hundreds of people manning the dikes. Fresh sand was trucked in from near-by building contractors. An emergency hospital was set up in a beach public school only a matter of feet from the raging lake.
And everywhere there was the wind.
Then suddenly the wind shifted position and died down.
A Hamilton fireman looked at the sky. "Thank you, God," he said.

Photo#1
Marjorie Denton sweeps up debris in house occupied by her tenant, Mrs. Hugh Collins. Floors dropped down, walls buckled.
Photo#2
His arm injured. Orville Fell is treated by Horace Humphries (left), Sgt. Jim Logue and Percy Pritchard of St. John Ambulance Association.
Photo#3
Working in knee deep water, workers throw up sandbag dike against on rushing waves. Road shoulders, lawns, flower beds were all dug up to fill bags. Some bags filled with lime were used and workers suffered eye and skin burns.
 

David O'Reilly

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Dec 15, 2012
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#2
It would be interesting to add any news paper articles on any other stormes on the beach, (for example Hurricane Hazel) and memories to this thread. I'm sure that I've seen tid bits on stormes that hit the beach in the 19th century in the 'Hamilton Harbour 1826/1901 page. I'll see if I can find them.
 

David O'Reilly

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Dec 15, 2012
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#3
1861 -

"A violent storm struck Lake Ontario on Saturday the 1 November and the schooners FIDELITY of Hamilton and ANTELOPE of Oswego took quite a pounding at the Railway Wharf, the former having her bulwarks battered in. Three other vessels, anchored out, managed to hold on. The wind was from the north-east and drove seas across Burlington Beach in several places. In addition, it made a breach in the embankment at the Water Works Basin. In the dark early hours of Saturday, the schooner LIVELY of Port Dover, stranded near the canal and the MAIL of Sodus, was driven ashore, high and dry, opposite Martin's. The schooner R. CAMPBELL of Chicago, stranded near the Water Works. None of these three were badly damaged and Mr. Tallman of Hamilton, was engaged to refloat them."
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1861

1886

At 7:30 p.m. on the 13 October, the storm signal at the Canal was hoisted, indicating a moderate gale from the east, shifting south to southeast. Up until noon the following day, the wind was easterly at 15 knots, with occasional rain squalls. Then the wind shifted to the south and velocity increased to 30 miles per hour, the signal being changed, indicating a gale from the south, swinging into the west and northwest. By 4:00 p.m. the wind velocity was 50 miles per hour and by midnight on the 14 October, it reached 60. The swing bridge machinery chose this particular night to break down, according to Murphy's Law, when the bridge was being opened. An extra gang of men were sent down to try to move it, but the canal remained closed all that night.
Shortly before this happened, the bridge was opened and three schooners, running before the gale successfully reached port. They were the MAGGIE McRAE, the ELLA MURTON and the L. D. BULLOCK. The first-named side-swiped one of the piers several times on her mad dash to the comparative safety of the harbour.
Much damage was done along the Beach. Many trees came down, small boats were smashed and Bastien's boat houses were demolished. Capt. Campbell had quite a struggle to reach his lights without being blown into the canal. The propeller LAKE ONTARIO, which for a time had lain in the canal, moved over to Burlington until 11:00 a.m. on the 15 October, by which time the bridge had been opened by hand and she came into the harbour. The bridge was expected to be out of commission for several days."
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1886


1893-

"A strong westerly wind on the 29 March drove the ice against the Beach and did considerable damage to the Hamilton Steamboat Company's new wharf, which was nearing completion. Any further work was postponed until the ice moved out."

"More wind on the 4 April, cleared most of the ice and completed the destruction of the Hamilton Steamboat Co. wharf at the Beach. It also did some damage to the old Northern & Northwestern Ry. Wharf." http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/Brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1893
 

scotto

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Feb 15, 2004
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The Beach Strip
#4
Royston C. Kime on Beach Flooding

Burlington Beach Resident Feels Charges Unfair
To the Editor:
During the past week a letter signed "Fogo" was published in your column castigating Burlington Beach as a defiled swamp. This correspondent claimed a disease epidemic would break out as a result of flooded conditions of the Beach along the bayside streets. Well, we had flooded conditions in 1895, 1915, 1929 and 1943 and an epidemic did not ensue. Then, a number of transient residents up toward the canal presented a petition to the Government asking that the flooded streets be sprayed and all the children be inoculated against germs. So much for that! It is well known that stagnant water is a breeding place for mosquitoes and sand flies. This kind of water also contains typhoid and polio germs, so does the pure water, hence the chlorination of the city's water supply.
The months of July and August constitute the season for infantile paralysis germs, and is the result of pollen-carrying germs also. A case of polio happened in 1912 in which a local boy contracted the disease through bathing in Lake Ontario, but this was pure water! He was crippled and died at thirty years of age in 1939. These children are receptive to the germ. However, this is no reason why spraying stagnant water should not be done. We must remember typhoid fever! And so I would calm the fears of Beach residents from being alarmed, because the polio season comes like all things in nature, in cycles and regardless of stagnant waters. Look at Britain!
With the views expressed by "Fogo" Hamilton Beach is being given a bad name, spoiling business and keeping tourists and future-residents away. For does he tell why Beach-flooded waters are disease-ridden? And so I will explain the cause, if such there be. The condition all along the bayshore is deplorable, dirt, filth, and slimy oil-soaked bottles, logs, and barrels swish atop the waters and come to rest on the Beach shore. The faster the refuse is cleared up, the bay waters deposit more, including millions of tiny dead fish killed by the filthy water. This all comes from the waterfront industrial centre, in Hamilton. Hasn't the City
Council agitated long and loudly against this pollution of Hamilton's beautiful harbour? One day last week the dense smoke was so thick for about an hour that station 5 residents could hardly see each other on the street as a southwest wind wafted it across the Beach. The smoke came from the dump on the south shore. And so, why does "Fogo" write about the Beach ? In closing let me advise our Beach mothers not to be unduly alarmed by such nonsense. The waters will recede in November,
Royston C. Kime.
Hamilton Beach,


Beach Residents Are Alarmed About High Water
To the Editor:
The residents of Hamilton Beach are really alarmed about what the spring of 1946 will bring in the way of high Lake Ontario waters. The conditions at present owing to the high waters of the lake and bay have made life miserable for many residents. Because their cellars are flooded they are unable to light their furnaces, the coke floats around and they well-nigh have to fish for it. In one cellar at Station 10 the water is actually four feet deep and frogs and turtles playfully swim through the stagnant water. This condition exists on the lake-side as well. One family shivered for three days without fire in the furnace as the water was up past the grates. The depth varies from 18 inches to three or four feet according to how near the houses are to the lake or bay. One or two families have moved to the city on account of these deplorable conditions.
The Beach residents claim many reasons for the high waters and flooded gardens and cellars. It is stated that, owing to the diversion of the waters of Long Lac and River Rouge in various power projects, the level of the lake waters has been raised. One sailor on the Beach says that the waters are two feet above normal. It is claimed that in the spring of 1946 the bay and lake will almost flood the entire Beach. This will be caused, it is said, by the damming and backing up of distant waters into Lake Ontario when the Great Waterways project is started.
Back in 1914 the bay waters were very high. At that time plank bridges were erected so that residents could get to boat and ice houses on the shore. Every seven years the lake waters rise. The waters of Lake Ontario rise in three cycles. During the first half of the fourteenth year the high water is at its maximum. As the years move toward the twenty-first the high lake waters should recede and then the cycle starts all over again. In 1914, as most of the houses were summer cottages, the residents did not complain much. The average rainfall for Ontario is from thirty to forty inches a year, but during 1943 was fifty inches and the water that year was unusually high. Being the fourteenth year from 1929 the water should have kept receding, but it has not done so! The water was so high in 1895 that lake and bay met during an east storm.
Another explanation for the high water is that the earth in its revolutions is turning crookedly on its axis and thus precipitating the unusually heavy rainfalls and moisture in this part of the world. It is pointed out that in Asia, Africa and Australia there has been the greatest dry spell in those continents' history. In Australia thousands of sheep died of thirst and starvation because the grasslands had been burned up. Another claim is that the bursting of shells over in Europe has caused the repeated showers and rainfalls. Hence the high Lake Ontario waters.
The fact remains that 1945 has seen an unusually heavy rainfall in this part of the world. Perhaps if a wall was constructed 100 yards out in the lake from Beach road to the Brant Inn, another sandbar would be formed and thus would eliminate the flood menace on Hamilton Beach.
Royston C. Kime

High Waters Of Lake Ontario And Recurring Flood Problems
1951
To the Editor:
Since writing my last letter on the flood problem caused through high Lake Ontario waters I have received information giving the cause of these conditions and the solution. Accordng to this version it is claimed that 90 per cent of storm damage is caused by high water during the time navigation is closed, and when flood season comes Lake Ontario is already at high level. And then the remedy is put forth, if the lake level was lowered three to five feet by opening the sluice gates in the Lachine lock gates at the close of navigation, Lake Ontario could then be used as a reservoir in the early spring. It is then stated that the spring floods alone would bring Lake Ontario up to normal level and by doing so would, in a big way, by absorbing this over flow, prevent the flood damage in lower St. Lawrence Valley.
Thus by lowering the lake five feet it would make the shoreline 100 to 150 feet further out, on which the breakers which are washing away the highways and homes would expend their energy. For it is said bottleneck is at Lachine Rapids
Again, it is claimed that if the outlet of Lake Ontario beginning slightly below Kingston were dredged deeper to allow more water to pour out into the St. Lawrence it we be a far better solution. This we be a big job and would cost a few million dollars.
However, many rumours are going around that Hudson Bay and Lake Superior water diversions have caused such high Lake Ontario waters, that diversions on the Albany River are the real reason, Long Lac and the River Rouge and so forth. These rumours cannot all be right, so Lachine could be the real cause. It will be remembered that I intimated that removing the oak trees on the bayshore and the poplar bushes on the lakeshore and filling in the swamp was a factor in Hamilton Beach flood problem. In the opinion of an Indian who has lived in Ontario all his life cutting down trees along riverbanks and forests near bays and lakes has be one of the real factors causing flood conditions in Northern Ontario However, it is to be hoped that the flood problem can be solved by opening the sluice gates in the Lachine lock gates the Ottawa government will pass enabling legislation that the danger of high Lake 0ntario waters will be eliminated. In closing, if people built all their homes inland there would not be enough room in the cities for the population or any shipping by water and the age of tribal savages would return. For, contrary to "Simple Simon's” letter, most of humanity's ills are man-made.
Royston C. Kime
Hamilton Beach.
 

David O'Reilly

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Dec 15, 2012
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#5
Here is some information on Hurricane Hazel's (1954) destruction on Van Wagner's Beach.

DUSTY CORNERS: Unlike blowhard Irene, Hurricane Hazel was the real deal
by Colwyn Beynon
Friday, Oct. 15, 1954, the weatherman called for cloud and rain. Same old news for Hamiltonians who had seen nothing but for a week. By dinner time, it became very dark and the wind whipped up along the lakeshore. About 11 p.m. as I recall, all hell broke loose on the Beach Strip.
Suddenly, with no warning, the area was battered by high winds and heavy rain. Fourteen-foot waves crashed into Van Wagner's Beach, tearing scores of flimsy shanties to shreds.
Old streetcar bodies used for housing were tumbled like logs inland, blocking the only access road. Flotsam and jetsam was flung about madly as the howling wind plowed through the strip like a freight train. The call went out, "A hurricane has struck the beach!"
The situation got worse as the midnight hour approached. Volunteers from the local garrison were called upon to report to the drill hall to await orders.
Weather reports confirmed that we had been hit by a hurricane dubbed Hazel. The giant, swirling mass had started in the Caribbean Sea and ripped across Haiti, leaving 1,000 dead and the island in shambles....

We volunteers made it to Van Wagners, which was awash with three feet of water over the road. Soaking wet, we filled sand bags and rescued people and animals from the crashing waves.
Donated lime bags were used for sandbags and the wind blew the powder into our faces. Suffering lime burns to my eyes, I sought refuge in the old Van Wagner's School (now Beranga's) where I was treated. Next day we were sent to Toronto searching for the dead in the Don River, prodding with broom sticks. Hazel made the recent Hurricane Irene look like a bit of a blowhard in comparrison....

http://www.hamiltonnews.com/opinion...hard-irene-hurricane-hazel-was-the-real-deal/

Walt Simmons of the Beach Fire Dept. sandbagging at Van Wagner's (HBRU)

Walt Simmons.jpg
 
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