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Adam Bunch

@adambunch.bsky.social

2.1K followers 310 following 600 posts

Exploring the history of Toronto/Canada. Author: The Toronto Book of the Dead & Toronto Book of Love. Host of Canadiana. Prof at George Brown. Creator: Toronto Time Traveller newsletter, The Festival of Bizarre Toronto History & The Toronto Dreams Project

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Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 2h

The TD Centre before Game One.

One of Mies’ titans, cheering on the Jays with a message six-storeys tall.

The TD centre in the Toronto skyline, with the lights inside the skyscraper turned on to spell “GO JAYS” with a big heart, six storeys tall

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

Thanks so much for reading! If you'd like more Toronto history stories...

A version of this story appeared in my book, The Toronto Book of the Dead, which is available from the usual places.

And you can subscribe to my Toronto History Weekly newsletter for free: tinyurl.com/tohistory

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

30. And so today, on the very same spot where the terrors of Raymore Drive once unfolded, you'll now find a public park.

The same park where I used to play as a kid, living just up the hill, protected from the river that turned so deadly on that dark October night in 1954.

Two modern photos. One shows Raymore Park in the fall, covered in golden leaves, a tree to one side, the city's ugly garbage binds next to it, a playground in the distance. The other shows the old concrete foundations of the footbridge which was destroyed during the hurricane. It has been painted with the old front pages of the Globe and the Star from the time. The Globe headline reads "GREAT STORM HITS AFTER 4-INCH RAIN." The Star's reads "TROOPS SWEEP HUMBER FOR DEAD."

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

29. In the wake of Hazel, Toronto developed a groundbreaking new plan for flood control.

Thousands of acres of land were expropriated, turning many of the city's floodplains into parkland.

Many of the green spaces we now enjoy are rooted in the horrors of that night.

A map of Toronto and Region Conservation Flood Control Infrastructure. It shows Toronto and the surrounding area, with berms, channels, and dams labelled.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

28. Schools, churches and fire halls were turned into makeshift morgues.

Bodies were being found for days. Even teenagers, including my father, were pressed into service searching for corpses.

Teenage boys, one wearing a band on his arm with a cross, search through wreckage next to the river.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

27. The recovery effort was enormous. The army moved in to burn wreckage. Helicopters buzzed up and down the valley.

A photo of a military tanks surrounded by wreckage and a few trees left standing. A couple of soldiers sit atop the tank, while others stand among the wreckage. Smoke rises from some of it, obscuring part of the view.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

26. By the time the storm was over, 81 people had been killed in Toronto and the surrounding region — one as far away as Ottawa.

Thousands more were transformed into refugees overnight.

A photo of a home surrounded by water. A man stands on the front steps handing something to a second man who is standing in a boat on the water. A dog hangs out in the boat, next to the oars.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

25. The next morning, the city woke to face the destruction.

Survivors found an entire block of Raymore Drive had been wiped off the map. Sixteen houses gone; more than 30 dead.

A bird's eye photo of the spot where Raymore Drive used to stand. The missing houses and road have been drawn in. A label reads "14 HOUSES GONE AT LEAST 36 DEAD".

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

24. Down at the mouth of Etobcioke Creek, a whole trailer park was swept away into the lake.

Nearby, a mother handed her 4-month old baby to a firefighter just in time...

Moments later the mother, the rest of the family, and their entire house were washed away.

An article from the front page of the Toronto Daily Star. At the top of the page, it reads "START ONTARIO HURRICANE RELIEF FUND". On the left, there's a photo of an infant under the words "Orphan of the Storm". To the right, a big headline: "KNOWN DEAD: 78. ATKINSON FUND GIFT FOR FLOOD IS $250,000".

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

23. At the spot where Bloor Street crosses the river, you'll find the high water mark displayed on the side of the massive bridge.

It's a stunning reminder of the power of the storm that struck Toronto that night.

A modern photo of the Bloor Street bridge across the Humber, taken from ground level below the bridge. High up on the side of the bridge, a series of wave symbols have been posted to show the high water mark. Below them, a woman points up toward them — about 5-6 times her height.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

22. At the Old Mill, part of the historic bridge was washed out by the torrent of water. Cars were driving straight into the river.

Two photos of the Old Mill Bridge. On the left, a view looking down the bridge from a spot next to it, showing how the earth at the end of the bridge has been washed away. On the right, an aerial view showing the bridge in the river, the ends having been washed away.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

21. Downriver, a fire truck was swamped as it responded to a call for help.

Five firefighters drowned.

A photograph of a firetruck, crumbled nearly flat and surrounded by water. A pair of rescuers stand on it, with a rope attached to a third man who is crawling across a ladder laid out across the river to reach the remains of the truck.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

20. Tom McGarvey came home to find his family trapped in the river. A friend had to tie him to a tree to keep him from rushing into the deadly water.

He watched, helpless, as his house was carried away — with his wife and two of his children inside.

A photo of a woman walking toward the camera through thigh-high water, a flooded neighbourhood behind her.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

19. John Neil came home that night to find his street gone, assumed his family had been evacuated, and joined the rescue efforts.

It wasn’t until the next morning that he learned his wife & three kids had all been killed. His brother-in-law’s whole family too.

An aerial photo of where Raymore Drive once stood, at a bend in the Humber. Much of the neighbourhood has been flooded and washed away.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

18. "It was like something out of a Cecil B. DeMille movie. The incredible roar of the water, like the roar of Niagara Falls...

"Houses crashing into the sides of other houses, people everywhere screaming. And then you couldn’t even hear the screams anymore."

A photo of the Humber, passing right to left, whipped up into big, muddy-looking waves. Trees stand in the background, on the far side of the river.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

17. Bryan Mitchell, a volunteer firefighter who would later become Etobicoke’s fire chief, was on Raymore Drive that night.

“People were screaming… We could see them, but they were just too far out you couldn’t throw ropes… I felt so helpless," he remembered.

A black and white photo of Bryan Mitchell in a dress shirt and tie, wearing a big firefighter's hat, smiling as he holds a megaphone up to his lips.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

16. Firefighters, police officers, volunteers all leapt into action, but there was little they could do against the angry white water.

A rescuer in a coat, hat and rubber boats carries a woman in his arms through the water. Behind them, a group of three or four others stands with a boat.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

15. Some houses were carried away by the river. Others just disintegrated. Flashlights winked out as buildings disappeared.

People were dying horrifying, chaotic, watery deaths.

An aerial photo of Raymore Drive during the flooding. Ten missing houses have been drawn in where the road has been completely washed away.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 4h

14. Desperate families scrambled onto their rooftops, clutching flashlights, clinging to their TV antennas, screaming for help.

Three people sit on the roof of a small, flooded house. They're wearing coats, one under a blanket.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 5h

13. As the flooding began, only a few cautious residents fled to higher ground. But over the course of just a few minutes, the community was completely overwhelmed by water.

The TRCA has created an animation to show us what it looked like: youtu.be/PcNEQkniFi0?...

Hurricane Hazel (Raymore Dr)

YouTube video by TRCA

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 5h

12. An entire block of Raymore Drive had been built at the bottom of the Humber Valley.

That quiet residential neighbourhood now found itself in the middle of the raging river.

A view across the raging Humber River. A few people walk along what's left of the bank in the foreground. Trees standing in the middle of the waves. In the background, some homes stands among the trees and the water.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 5h

11. And quiet Raymore Drive, just across the river from Weston, became the scene of unspeakable horrors.

(I should probably mention at this point: some of the following tweets will be pretty upsetting.)

A photo of an old street sign reading "Raymore Dr," which has been damaged by the storm.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 5h

10. But the worst was the Humber. That night, 150 billion litres of rain fell into the river’s watershed.

The river became a deadly torrent. Roads destroyed. Trees snapped like matchsticks. Cars swept away. Homes ripped from their foundations.

Two archival photos show homes ripped apart by the storm. On the left, a house has been torn open to reveal a bedroom pitch onto its side a bed still inside. On the right, another home's roofs has been turned 90 degrees.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 5h

9. All over the city, rivers and creeks began to burst their banks. The Don, the Rouge, Etobicoke Creek, Mimico Creek, Highland Creek…

Even the Garrison, buried for nearly a century, sent sewer grates flying atop geysers in Trinity Bellwoods Park.

A man in a suit — with a hat, pipe and dress shoes — crouches atop what looks like the top of a barrel surrounded by water. He's got a metal can in his hand and pumps water into it from a spout at the top of the barrel. Behind him, a house sits in water that comes nearly up to the first floor windows.

Adam Bunch @adambunch.bsky.social · 5h

8. The last official weather report came at 9:30pm: Toronto would get winds & rain, but nothing like the devastation to the south.

By then, though, the flooding had already started. Hazel *had* crossed the Alleghenies, hit a front of cold Canadian air & stalled above Toronto.

An archival photo of flooding. A car stands in the water hood open, with two people in raincoats up to their shins in water.