On the afternoon of October 5, 1954, hurricane hunter planes found the eye of Hurricane Hazel about 50 miles east of the island of Grenada. The eye was poorly defined, but its highest winds were already near 100 mph. It was the beginning of a storm that was to spread death and destruction from the Caribbean up through the Carolinas, the middle of the Atlantic states and into Canada.

By 11:00 a.m. on October 14, Hazel reached North Carolina, its winds sustained at 150 mph. It was preceded by a storm surge of 14.5 feet. When it reached Garden City, South Carolina, it destroyed the entire town, leaving only two of 275 homes habitable.

In the 12 hours after Hazel struck the Carolina coast, it traveled with extreme speed, passing through the western suburbs of Washington, D.C. and spinning across Pennsylvania and New York into Ontario, maintaining its intensity all the way. In the U.S., it is estimated that Hazel caused $1.5 billion in damages and killed 100 people.

The 113 mph (180 km/h) gust recorded in New York City, over 200 miles (320 km) from the storm's center, is still the highest wind speed recorded in the city's history.

Hazel pounded the Toronto region with winds that reached 68 mph and 11+ inches of rain in 48 hours. Bridges and streets were washed out, and homes and trailers were washed into Lake Ontario. Thousands were left homeless, and 81 people were killed - more than 30 on one street alone.

Five firefighters from the Kingsway-Lambton Fire Station were killed when they went to rescue people stranded in a car by floodwaters on the Humber River. The fire truck the men were driving became stuck on a flooded street and overturned, tossing the men into the water.

On the one-year anniversary of this incident, a plaque was unveiled in memory of the fallen firefighters. It is now located near the spot where the five men were lost, and reads:

IN PROUD MEMORY OF THESE MEN OF THE KINGSWAY-LAMBTON VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT
CLARENCE (TINY) COLLINS
FRANK MERCER
ROY OLIVER
DAVID PALMATEER
ANGUS SMALL

THEY LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE SWOLLEN HUMBER RIVER WHILE ON RESCUE WORK DURING HURRICANE HAZEL 16TH OCTOBER 1954.

ERECTED BY MEMBERS OF THE KINGSWAY-LAMBTON VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT. AND LAKESHORE DISTRICT FIREMEN 16TH OCTOBER 1955

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH

Source: www.hurricanehazel.ca