Ice Jams on the Humber near my house - Aftermath

[Malthus]

Before Hurricane Hazel in the 1950s, there were houses in the Humber valley.

This was, as it turned out, a bad idea.

[Caliga]

Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto?  Wow.  I knew from my dad's stories about his childhood it did tons of damage in upstate Pennsylvania but didn't realize it kept going that much further north.

[Malthus]

Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto?  Wow.  I knew from my dad's stories about his childhood it did tons of damage in upstate Pennsylvania but didn't realize it kept going that much further north.

It did indeed - and caused huge damage, because it is very rare for hurricanes to make it this far north.  No-one was prepared for it. Plus, people had stupidly built houses in the flood plain, with predictable results.

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

Picture in the Wikipedia entry shows a house floating down the Humber (same river as in my pics).

From the article:

The Humber River, located in the west end of the city, caused the most destruction, as a result of an intense flash flood. Located in a glacial trench, the river in some areas occupies the full width of the trench; however, in other areas, most of the trench is a floodplain, which was heavily urbanized and deforested at the time. While some sort of flood control had been proposed for the Humber River, none existed, and with most of the rains running off directly into the river, a flash flood ensued, which was especially exacerbated by the steepness of the river.[13]

The resulting current was so strong that the Toronto Star reported that the police were informed that no boat should be launched in the river, saying that "nothing can make it and anyone in it will be killed for sure".[13] That prediction came true, when a team of five volunteer firefighters were killed when their fire truck was swept away as they were responding to help a stranded motorist.

[Tonitrus]

Humber is a dumb name.  Ohio is a much better name for a river.

When I first saw the thread, I thought it was the (no doubt original) Humber just up from me a bit. 

[Malthus]

Humber is a dumb name.  Ohio is a much better name for a river.

When I first saw the thread, I thought it was the (no doubt original) Humber just up from me a bit. 

The funny part is that my whole neighbourhood was designed by a fanatical Anglophile whose avowed intention was to re-create his fantasy vision of "England", in the form of Tudor Revival houses. His name, oddly enough, was Home Smith. Who names their kid "Home"?

How do you introduce a completely new approach to selling real estate? For Robert Home Smith, it was no real problem. He came up with a vision of his own "Garden of Eden", then set about to create it. He wanted to build a master community based on the best in England in his own 3000 acre development on the Humber Valley. It's how he achieved this that made all the difference.

He pioneered an innovative approach – putting restrictions on the type and size of buildings which could be constructed in his developments and retaining final approval of all designs.  Buyers had to sign 30-year covenants attached to their deeds of sale. Design requirements did not allow much leeway, and the original one page list of requirements soon grew to nearly two pages as Home Smith refined his approach to achieve his goal of "a bit of England, far from England."

http://www.etobicokehistorical.com/robert-home-smith.html

[derspiess]

Humber is a dumb name.  Ohio is a much better name for a river.

Probably why we don't get ice jams

[Malthus]

Probably why we don't get ice jams

I ... don't get it. 

[derspiess]

Probably why we don't get ice jams

I ... don't get it. 

Oops, thought I was replying to the latest post.

Context for my lame joke added