October 16, 1954 - Hurricane Hazel hits Toronto

Randi MannDigital Reporter
Published on Oct. 16, 2020, 10:02 AM

Toronto has come a long way in storm preparedness, but in 1954, Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto hard.

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On October 16, 1954, Hurricane Hazel flooded Toronto. This was Toronto's first hurricane. The city's water capacity was already maxed out from a rainy couple of weeks, so when the hurricane hit, the impact was extreme.

Hurricane Hazel peaked as a Category 4 but relaxed to an extratropical Category 1 storm by the time it got to Canada.

The rain completely flooded the Humber River, Holland Marsh, and Etobicoke Creek, and made its way through the city.

The storm killed 81 people in Toronto, caused 4,000 people to be homeless, and cost C$137,552,400 (C$1,299,967,047 in 2018).

A total of 800 troops, 15 militia groups and eight army reserve units were summoned to Toronto to assist with the cleanup. To learn more about this devastating storm, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."

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"This Day In Weather History” is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features unique and informative stories from host Chris Mei.