Postcard Memories is a series of historic views, stories and photos of Bradford West Gwillimbury, a trip down memory lane on a Saturday morning.
Torrential downpours have been a fact of life in Bradford West Gwillimbury, long before any talk of global warming and climate change.
During the afternoon of Saturday, May 28, 1921 a violent thunderstorm dumped at least 3 inches (over 76 mm) of rain in less than an hour, north of Line 7 of Bradford.
The ground was already saturated, as a result of the spring melt. The result was extensive flooding, as creeks filled with floodwaters that washed away fences, bridges and roads.
The tributaries of Fraser Creek became raging torrents, merging on the Faris farm on Conc. 6. “By the time the ‘wall’ of water reached the 5th Line it had attained a height of about 14 feet above normal,” wrote Bob Sturgeon – washing away the wooden Kingsley Bridge “in an instant,” along with bridges on 5 Sideroad between Lines 4 and 5.
Culverts and a bridge on what was then Hwy. 11 (Yonge St.) at Line 10 were also washed away by a raging Scanlon Creek, along with the railway bridge at Line 9. Local farm fields “were badly washed and rutted, but the full extent of the damage was not realized until harvest time,” Sturgeon wrote.
Bridges and culverts were rebuilt - using concrete, instead of wood.
Details from the Archives at the BWG Public Library, and Governor Simcoe Slept Here: The legacy of West Gwillimbury.
