What was the biggest disaster in your city/province?

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The biggest disaster I've witnessed had to be the Plastimet fire. It happened on my birthday, July 9th, 1997. It was a MASSIVE industrial fire that emitted tons of toxins to the air. Huge areas had to be evacuated. The fire lasted for days. I remember the huge plume of black smoke. Hamilton General Hospital was literally right next door to the fire so some patients had to be evacuated.

• Video Link


http://www.chemistry.mcmaster.ca/ext...timet_fire.htm


http://prudentpress.com/politics/env...ealth-ontario/

The area is now a park.

The Spec has a special about the Plastimet fire and more pictures


Thespec
http://thespec-stories.com/2016/02/1...tator-history/


Thespec
http://thespec-stories.com/2016/02/1...tator-history/

Looks like the Desjardins railway disaster in 1857 is the biggest man-made disaster in Hamilton, 70 people died.

Desjardins railway disaster

Fifty-nine passengers onboard a Great Western Railway train from Toronto to Hamilton were killed when an axle broke as the train was crossing the Desjardins Canal Bridge. The train left the tracks, pushed through the side railings, and crashed into the frozen waters below.

The tragedy left the community reeling and remains one of the worst railway disasters in Canadian history. Several prominent people died including Samuel Zimmerman, who was described by The Spectator at the time as a “renowned railway contractor and banker, whose name for years has been known as a household word in the mouth of almost every Canadian.” The train was the most celebrated technology of the era. It was creating prosperity and laying the groundwork for nationhood. But the crash demonstrated that technology can sometimes have horrific consequences as well.


Thespec
http://thespec-stories.com/2016/02/1...tator-history/



Thespec
http://thespec-stories.com/2016/02/1...tator-history/

[TorontoDrew]

The SS Noronic (Queen of the Lakes) disaster killed 119 at Pier 9 in Toronto Harbour. 2:30am September 17th 1949.

posted on: http://4.bp.blogspot.com


City of Toronto archives


City of Toronto archives


from pbs.twigm.com


from the star.ca

[Loco101]

In Timmins, ON:

The Porcupine Fire in 1911: huge forest fire that destroyed South Porcupine and Golden City (now known as Porcupine) Death toll estimated at 70-200 but could have been much higher as there were many working in the bush.

There have also been mining accidents and disasters in Timmins.

[mattpa]

1950 flood

[jodelli]

I'll mention the 1946 F4 tornado in Windsor, ON that killed 17 people plus the 1974 Super Outbreak tornado that snuck its way over from Flat Rock, MI leading to a combined death toll of 26.

We dodged a bullet with the 74 F3 as it sideswiped a mall just over an hour after closing. Today that parking lot would have been full at the time

Severe weather seems to be the deal here other than a department store blast in the sixties that killed 10.


Windsor–Tecumseh tornado viewed from Garland's Seaplane Base on the Detroit side of the Detroit River looking towards Peche Isle (photo by Harry G. Garland).

[north 42]

^^

My dad actually saw that tornado cross over Malden Rd. where he lived at the time, he was 8 years old. I remember the 1974 tornado that destroyed the Windsor Curling Club, my next door neighbour was killed in it, I was only 9 at the time.

[Franco401]

The biggest disaster for NB would be the 1825 Miramichi Fire, also the dealiest wildifire in Canadian history.

Wikipedia:

The Great Miramichi Fire refers to a massive forest fire (or series of fires) which devastated forests and communities throughout much of northern New Brunswick in October 1825. It ranks among the three largest forest fires ever recorded in North America. About 1/3 of the homes in Fredericton were destroyed, but the main devastation was 100 miles (160 km) to the northeast. The preceding summer was a particularity hot one, with bush fires common. On the evening of October 7, 1825, the firestorm roared through Newcastle, New Brunswick (now part of the City of Miramichi), and in less than 3 hours reduced the town of 1,000 people to ruins - of 260 original buildings, only 12 remained. Only 6 of 70 buildings survived in the adjacent village of Douglastown. The fire similarly destroyed other communities, including Moorefield, Napan, and Black River Bridge. Chatham, Nelson, and Doaktown escaped the fire. The cause of the blaze is not known, but was likely of human origin.

1877 Saint John Fire

On 20 June 1877 at 2:30, a spark fell into a bundle of hay in Henry Fair Weathers storehouse in the York Point Slip area. Nine hours later the fire had destroyed over 80 hectares (200 acres) and 1,612 structures including eight churches, six banks, fourteen hotels, eleven schooners and four wood boats. The fire had killed approximately 20 people, and injuring many more. No photographs exist of the fire.[2] But some survivors accounts of the blaze tell that the fire came so close to the harbour that it looked like the water was on fire.

Much of the South End was built in the aftermath, with stone construction being mandated. Walk around the area today and you'll see dozens of buildings built in 1878.





1973 and 2008 Saint John River Floods

The 1973 Flood was unprecedented. The worst was in Fredericton, where nearby farmland was covered, downtown was under several feet of water and numerous documents and works were evacuated from the Legislature and Beaverbrook Art Gallery, located directly on the river. The record water level was set at 28 feet, where it remains.





[IMG][/IMG]



The 2008 flood was nearly as bad, but caused less damage as it was concentrated in the Upper Valley and Maine, plus Fredericton was much better prepared for it.

[Laceoflight]

The 1998 great ice storm in Montérégie (known as Le Grand Verglas). Here are pictures from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

[TorontoDrew]

The great earthquake of Dec 29th 2015 off the Sunshine Coast area. I was there, still wake up at night thinking about it.

from: cbc.ca

[jodelli]

Hurricane Hazel, as was already mentioned, killed over 80 centered on the west end of Toronto's metro in 1954. Here's where more than thirty perished in the Humber Valley Raymore neighborhood just south of Lawrence:

[aastra]

55 dead in Victoria's streetcar disaster of 1896:
https://worldhistoryproject.org/1896...ridge-disaster

Pic...

[Scruff Bucket]

There was the Regina Cyclone of 1912, apparently an F4 tornado:

• Video Link

Also, link: SaskArchives

Later, years of drought during 1930's ("Dirty Thirties") contributed to hardships in Saskatchewan during the Great Depression (the Stock Market crash happened just prior, in 1929).

Then there was the Regina Riot in 1935:
During the Depression, there was unrest brewing in BC, largely from single men in work camps (military-run and -styled relief camps, fashioned to keep at bay growing numbers of disatisfied, unemployed men, but not great work environments, either) that were set up by the Federal Government (under Prime Minister R.B. Bennett) across the country to give relief to unemployment (In Regina, similar work projects at the time included deepening Wascana Lake, and building Albert Street Bridge -- the longest bridge built over the shortest span of water). Wanting better living conditions from these and other hardships of the Depression, a movement was created, with about a thousand men travelling by train, starting from Vancouver on their way to Ottawa to appeal for better benefits, accumulating in numbers along the way at each stop until stopped at Regina at the request of the Federal Government to the railway companies. After a smaller party sent to audience with the Feds (the remainder stayed back in Regina) failed to gain more relief, the Feds ordered RCMP in Regina to arrest leaders of this "On-to-Ottawa Trek", who (no surprise) met with resistance, which resulted in the Regina Riot!

Gee! Researching and paraphrasing this event reminded me of the unfortunate event in Vancouver, June, 2011 (totally different circumstances, however!) as I and my family were visiting, staying in Downtown Vancouver at the time! We were out of the downtown area all that day, but were lucky to return before it all happened, as police had closed off all access to downtown shortly after events exacerbated! We could see news helicopters hovering about and smell gasoline burning in the outside air, as we watched the events unfolding on TV!

Huh! ... Come to think of it, both these events started from or in Vancouver!

[dmuzika]

The 2011 Slave Lake wildfire where one third of the town of 7,000 was destroyed. At the time it was the 2nd costliest insured disaster in Canada and had the largest evacuation in Alberta. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Slave_Lake_wildfire

Considering the disaster, it's surprising that that there was only one death.

[MolsonExport]

Not the worst, but a bad one, and something that affected theatre regulations for decades to come: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie...e_Theatre_fire

[Stryker]

Not sure if this has been mentioned. But the sinking of the mv caribou in ww2 was a huge disaster for those who used the newfoundland ferry.

For members of my family it was World War 2 for as far as they were concerned. As newfoundlanders, Sydney Nova Scotia was by leaps and bonds the closest city.

[SignalHillHiker]

It'd definitely count as among the worst for the West Coast.

SS Caribou was a Newfoundland Railway passenger ferry that ran between Port aux Basques, in the Dominion of Newfoundland, and North Sydney, Nova Scotia between 1928 and 1942. During the Battle of the St. Lawrence the ferry was attacked and sunk by the Nazi German submarine U-69 in October 1942, while traversing the Cabot Strait as part of her three weekly SPAB convoys. As a civilian vessel, she had women and children on board, and many of them were among the 137 who died. Her sinking, and large death toll, made it clear that the war had really arrived on Canada's and Newfoundland's home front, and is cited by many historians as the most significant sinking in Canadian-controlled waters during the Second World War.

Caribou was carrying 46 crew members and 191 civilian and military passengers.[2] The ship's longtime Captain, Benjamin Taverner, was commanding the boat as she was struck, and perished along with his sons Stanley and Harold, who served as first and third officers respectively.[7][4] Of the deceased, two were rescued at first, but they later died from exposure to the cold water.[4] 137 people died that morning, and the passenger and crew totals were broken down as follows: of 118 military personnel, 57 died; of 73 civilians, 49 died; of the 46 crew members, 31 died.[8] 34 bodies were found and brought to Port aux Basques by fishing schooners chartered by the Newfoundland Railway Company.[9] To prevent rumours, the Royal Canadian Navy allowed the Sydney Post-Record and other media outlets to report the sinking, almost as soon as it happened, one of the few times that war censorship was temporarily lifted in this period.[10][11] The sinking made front page news in both the The Toronto Daily Star and The Globe and Mail newspapers later that week.[12][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Caribou

We had to learn a folk song about it in school.

[Darkoshvilli]

In Montreal, between 3,500 and 6,000 Irish immigrants died of typhus or "ship fever" in fever sheds in a quarantine area known as Windmill Point in 1847 and 1848.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1847_N...yphus_epidemic

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

It'd definitely count as among the worst for the West Coast.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Caribou

We had to learn a folk song about it in school.

Honestly I only did the math last year during that Beaumont hamil thinger.

For us it was far worst, far more recent as well.


It's funny actually because I really thought the germans(not just the nazi's) were far more vicious than they actually were.

As a kid I grew up with a display(brother made it for school) in my bedroom of all the dead. I really thought it was absolutely common for the nazi's to be taking out ships full of civilians.

Keeping in mind to translate the population numbers with southwestern newfoundland, it'd be as if the germans destroyed a cruise ship with 15,000 people from toronto on it.

[SignalHillHiker]

List of the deadliest via Wikipedia.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by jodelli

Hurricane Hazel, as was already mentioned, killed over 80 centered on the west end of Toronto's metro in 1954. Here's where more than thirty perished in the Humber Valley Raymore neighborhood just south of Lawrence:

It is amazing to think that Toronto's beautiful ravine parks were born of tragedy.