Angry in the Great White North

Recalling Toronto's encounter with a hurricane, 12 years before I was born:

On October 15, 1954, the most famous hurricane in Canadian history struck Southern Ontario. Hurricane Hazel was projected to dissipate, but instead re-intensified unexpectedly and rapidly, pounding the Toronto region with winds that reached 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph) and 285 millimetres (11.23 inches) of rain in 48 hours. Bridges and streets were washed out, homes and trailers were washed into Lake Ontario. Thousands were left homeless, and 81 people were killed—more than 30 on one street alone. The total cost of the destruction in Canada was estimated at $100 million (about $1 billion today).

The hurricane re-intensified when two other low pressure systems merged with the remnants of Hazel, after it had visited devastation on Haiti and the Carolinas. Here are some numbers:

300 million: number of tons of water that fell during the storm
155: Hazel's maximum speed (mph) in the Caribbean
81: Number of people in Ontario who lost their lives from the flooding
4,000: Number of families left homeless in Southern Ontario from the flood (1,868 in Toronto)
32: Houses on Raymore Drive that were washed away by floods

Raymore Drive is 4 miles from the street I grew up on.

The last picture shows the frantic efforts to save a family living on Raymore Drive.

[Michelle Malkin has a round-up of bloggers tracking Katrina.]