The storm you'll always remember

[Dave Bailey]

August 2006, Moosonee. We were camping at Tidewater P.P. and got one of the locals to take us a few miles up the river to do some fishing. Just started to hit into some nice walleye when all of a sudden the sky turned black.

 

 

We got back into the 20ft James Bay freighter canoe and he gunned the engine to get us back to town before the crap hit - too late. The first thing I noticed was a funnel cloud forming above the canoe, fortunately it didn't touch down on us. Then the hail started, peas sized and painful. He decided to head for the shoreline of the nearest island, he hit those pebbles like it was a beach assault! While he was rigging a tarp at a small overhang to protect my wife and kids from the hail I was pounding the anchor into the beach and jumping on it to make sure it wouldn't come loose. We waited it out for about 15 minutes, and when it let up we got back into the canoe and high-tailed it back to town. We didn't bother going to the tent on the island, just headed for the hotel and got a couple of rooms. Later that night at a restaurant some of the locals told us it was the worst storm they could ever remember. Apparently some tornadoes did touch down in the muskeg to the west, we got off lucky. You don't think of Moosonee as tornado country, but now that's the only way I can think of it.

 

 

That's our guide, Wayne Tomatuk, manning the helm. Notice that even though the sky is nasty the water isn't very rough, I still can't get my head around that weird situation. It seemed that almost all the action was coming straight down instead of sideways.

[Dave Bailey]

Another one is probably my earliest childhood memory, I was only a year and a half old. I distinctly remember watching my parents trying to get ankle-deep water off the floor in our basement apartment in Scarborough. October 17, 1954. Hurricane Hazel, which killed 81 people. Let's hope we never see another like it.

[mercman]

Another one is probably my earliest childhood memory, I was only a year and a half old. I distinctly remember watching my parents trying to get ankle-deep water off the floor in our basement apartment in Scarborough. October 17, 1954. Hurricane Hazel, which killed 81 people. Let's hope we never see another like it.

 

i as born in 55, so i missed hurricane hazel.i can remember people talked about it for years.i had an aunt hazel and i always remembered being terrified of her just because of her name

[Dave Bailey]

i as born in 55, so i missed hurricane hazel.i can remember people talked about it for years.i had an aunt hazel and i always remembered being terrified of her just because of her name

 

In 2005 I was sitting at home while the rest of the family was up at Killarney PP, I was going to join them later. The first reports of Hurricane Katrina were coming in and it didn't look good. The next day I drove up there and when I got to the campsite one of the first things I heard was a woman calling loudly to her daughter - "Katrina, KAATRIIINAAAAAA!" I was thinking that she was going to get a lot of ribbing when she got back home and they heard the news!

[chris.brock]

Haliburton, last December, 122 cm of snow in 3 days (40 plus per day), we came up at the end of it, in the dark, got the truck stuck, hiked 2 kms to the cottage in 2 hours, had to carry the dog too because he couldn't swim in snow, it was a memorable, tough, and great weekend all at the same time

[capt bruce]

EAsy I could tell you of the night in 83 going across lake O from TO to Port Dalhousie in the night to pick up my week end charters and putting my 43 footer on its side in 12 foot + waves and the boat getting hit by lightening , but hurricane hazel ,I was less than 12 (dont want say how old Im am) tree hit house , house half way up first floor full of water (we lived in what now is the don valley than),The street outside was a rageing river, all 10 of us on second floor hopeing roof will stay on , my mother was the best ,we sang songs ,played games , after I had the greatest memories of a great family night, forgot about how afraid I was we were all gonna get washed away . Funny how no matter how bad it gets , Mothers allways know what to do .

[mercman]

Funny how no matter how bad it gets , Mothers allways know what to do .

 

 

AMEN TO THAT !!!!!!!