Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 5, 1985, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press May 1985 pages 1322 to if sunday Winnipeg Black Friday by Nelle Oosterom the Canadian press they called it Black Fri it was 35 years ago a fierce North wind was driving icy Needles of rain onto thousands of beleaguered Winni Eggers who fought a losing Battle against one of North americas most disastrous before it was would flee the Homes and farmsteads would be and would be that Friday night was one of the darkest in the in one part of Volun Teers braved Gal Force winds to fortify a Wall of the barricade heaved and qui Vered under the pressure of an win whipped Lake that stretched from Winnipeg to the United states Border and covering More than Square Kilometres of prime red River Val Ley the steady pounding caused the Dike to allowing a sudden Wall of water to Rush through wild driving 300 families from their Over the next Day or other dikes tumbled throughout the covering some areas in water that was Well Over the head of a aver age schools were closed and Many people fled to wait out the disaster with relatives and friends outside of Southern floods occur frequently in the red River but the 1950 disaster was caused by a Combina Tion of several factors a Damp severe Frost that occurred thirty five years ago one of the worst floods in North America inundated parts of the flood that forced people to flee Winnipeg and left City and Rural residents before heavy Snow in late a late and sudden Spring and above Normal rainfall during Spring it just sort of grew like said Madge who worked As a welfare director with the red Cross at the people just didst think it could happen in win Johnston recalled one red Cross foray into the country it was we were stopped at Agathe and i looked out and every thing was groups of peo ple waiting for the train were standing on High pieces of ground with water lapping around their refugees arrived grimaced Rural refugees were transported to Winnipeg by exhausted and they arrived at the station with whatever they had managed to pick up on their Way out the including a Man who took a Motorboat from the outskirts of Winnipeg to deliver food to a Community that had run out of bread found people slaughtering cattle on the main in one resourceful Farmer Rode into town on a horse Fol Lowed by three tied head to Tail and swimming in the flood in hundreds of cattle which often swam to patches of Kingston Crescent 35 years had the water gone slightly the City would have been High ground inaccessible to their owners were shot so they starve to in some the stranded herds were fed with Bales of Hay dropped from Only one human death was directly attributed to the Lawson Alfred a Winni Peg died when a House door that had been barricaded against floodwaters gave Way and he was washed into a the prime Louis told the House of com Mons on May 7 that from one end of Canada to the the people Are deeply concerned about the anxieties of their fellow citizens in Winnipeg and the red River Val flood operations Headquarters at the Manitoba legis lature building resembled a War time command Walls Hung with maps marked the Waters hourly Advance and the telephones rang steadily with offers of downtown Winnipeg stayed relatively with water not More than ankle deep in most but basements were flooded and there was no electricity or plumb ing in Many buildings because of water in other water was up to five metres it was quite something to go Down the streets in a Motorboat and look Down and see the said operation Blackboy As the Waters Rose perilously close to knocking out services in a secret plan was Deve loped to evacuate the entire although not put into operation Blackboy would have put administrative control of Winnipeg into the hands of one Man acting flood control it called for the evacuation of people a Day by air and Road and would have gone into effect had the water risen to More than metres feet above Normal at that the Central railway station would have been out of food stocks communications blacked out and water and sewer systems Des operation Blackboy was shelved when the after reaching a level of just Over started to the total damage tally came to not a Small sum at a time when the average weekly salary was and a new Home could be bought in Winnipeg for could it happen again some thought it possible in 1978 when the red River Valley again resembled an Inland sea and hundreds of City dwellers volunteered to fortify dikes in Small communities to the but the red River a 47kilometrelong canal that now surrounds protected the City and prevented what might have been another completed in the flood Way has been coined duffs ditch after former Premier Duff who spearheaded the drive to get it built to carry away Over flow Waters from the red and Assiniboine which meet in Many communities along the red River have built permanent but most farmsteads Are not so protected and Are submerged every few Grey haired grads will co Vocate Sand baggers worked valiantly but in vain that by Chris Cariou the press therell be a flood of nostalgia when the University of Manitoba engineering class gets together in june for a graduation exercise that was literally washed Only Days after writing their final exams in May the 237 Engi Neering graduates were swept out of the University not on a wave of but by the cresting Waters of the red we had just finished our last Day and the flood says Bill one of the 1950 Engi neers who will reunite in Winnipeg the weekend of june 57 for a con vocation like exercise known As a special High water there was free flowing water within 150 to 200 feet of Portage and recalls now retired from his Post As the cites commissioner of works and opera Finnbogason and the other graduates Many of them second world War veterans who jumped into the fight against the flood be formally celebrating their degrees 35 years after the of the 237 about 100 have said show up for the which will include a ride Down the red River same River that went on a rampage in the Spring of 1950 and caused one of the worst floods in North Ameri can they Are coming from As far away As Dallas and new there will be a valedictory speech and the graduates will Wear gowns but not the Square shaped academic hats associated with Well be hatless along with wit says who was 27 when the worst flood Ever to hit Winnipeg forced the evacuation of left homeless in the City and caused More than million ill get a chuckle at All us old Guys wandering up the stairs to get out Little Finnboga son by another Grade says the ceremony will be a but Back in the convocation exercise were far from his we were All wrapped up in the flood at the time and there was no convocation exercise so what says who now works for Manitoba but on you feel As if you missed most were veterans those graduates who had re turned from the second world War by far the majority were Veter says Finnbogason were helped through the fou year course by government we were late starting out in any career after getting out of the ser vice and this gave us an Opportunity to make the life weve which in delighted but after they completed the the graduates who didst already have jobs lined up pitched in to help the City Cope with the the first task we had was to work on the dikes and protect Homes to the extent we says wed help people move out and wed Load trucks with we were working against the clock and Here people were Riding us for not being careful enough with their he we were kind of resentful and yet you could understand one of the hardest hit areas in the City was Kingston a state by Riverside neighbourhood in South that where Lawson Finnbogason school died As they were he was the Only fatality of the people were going into their Sec Ond storeys by Finnboga son Lawson was swept Down the basement stairs of a Home by a surge of water and ask about Grazys 6 year nation wide extended warranty Pun Auto us cite Wital Cut Titi Cilto Tif 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