“A wind storm that at time almost reached the propositions of a cyclone swept over Western Ontario today, leaving a path of ruin in its wake. The gale, which at intervals attained a velocity of seventy miles an hour, played all sorts of strange pranks, and did damage which will amount to thousands of dollars in Hamilton alone.
Hamilton Times. April 07, 1909.
It started like another average April day in Hamilton. However, the weather conditions deteriorated rapidly.
In the newspaper offices of the Spectator, Herald and Times, reporters were reading telegraph notices from both Chicago and Detroit, indicating that a massive wind storm was causing serious damage in those cities.
Over the course of the morning the winds in Hamilton increased rapidly until it was obvious that a serious situation had developed.
Telephone and telegraph wires in the country were downed, while in downtown Hamilton, signs were blown down, windows smashed, chimneys swept off housetops, and many people were injured, although no serious accidents were reported.
The street railway service was halted at intervals in, and the machinery in manufacturing establishments was brought to a standstill.
A reporter from the Times office at King William and Hughson streets went out on foot to assess what was happening in that part of the city:
“Plate glass windows in business places along King and James streets went crashing in on one another; signs strained on their hangings, and tumbled to the ground, endangering the lives of people; women were swept off their feet, and the main thoroughfares were alive with pedestrians chasing their hats, which were swooped off their heads and carried over telephone poles to the tops of high buildings.”
The reporter had to write up his copy quickly so that the late afternoon edition of the Times could contain as much news as it was possible to gather in a narrow time frame.
The copy produced included the following in the breathless litany of wind storm damage stories that the reporter was made aware of:
“Many people had narrow escapes. Farmers driving over the High Level Bridge, a hundred feet above the canal, were nervous today. One man was blown off his rig, and the railing probably saved him from going over.
“About 11:30 o’clock, a large cast iron ventilator on the roof of the Alexandra Arcade was blown down to the roof of the Cecil hotel. It rolled within a few feet of the James street wall and for a time it threatened to fall on the sidewalk. P.C. Tuck stood guard for some time, warning persons to go to the other side of the street till Fire Chief TenEyck was notified. The chief went up on the roof with another man, and pulled the big pipe, which weighed almost 150 pounds back and made it fast with wires.
“Bicycle racks went shooting down the street, and a man named Markle was struck by one near the Federal Life building at noon. He was rendered unconscious.
“A garbage wagon, empty, was going along James street in front of the City Hall. Two men were in it. The wind is worse at the City Hall corner than in any other spot, and the way the wagon box soared gave an idea of the way Zeppelin rules the air in Germany. The box was blown some distance, but neither of the men were hurt.
“Several girls on their way to work were blown off street car steps, while alighting at the City Hall corner, but none were seriously injured. Bruised feelings were their worst injuries.”
A wind storm of such velocity was sure to cause problems at the Hamilton Beach, and on the waterfront generally:
“The storm along the bay front and the Beach was picturesque and spectacular. The waters of the bay, lashed into a fury, sent white-crested waves, five and six feet high, smashing against the shore along the Beach. Trees shook, and strained at their roots, some of them going down before the gale, while many cottages were damaged. Near the canal, the water washed up almost to the road. Trees that skirt the bay near the canal are in danger of being washed away”
The reporter also made his way up the escarpment to learn of what had happened, and was still happening, there as the late edition of the Times went to press:
“The mountain top residents felt the full force of the storm. All the large residences there suffered more or less, large brick chimneys crashing through verandahs and fences being carried away,
“The storm on the bay and lake, as viewed from the mountain, was weirdly picturesque. The dust on the north shore is lifted in great clouds and swept over and swept over the bay like smoke, making it appear as though a great fire was raging.”
(To Be Continued)
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