Post by Rick (Admin) on Jul 21, 2013 6:27:17 GMT -5
A Look Back In History
Sudbury Tornado Destruction, Aug 1970
"My house is blowing away, my house is blowing away", a hysterical female voice over the phone shouted, then the line went dead. That call to a Sudbury radio station was the first hint that a summer thundershower had turned deadly.
On August 20, 1970, a 100-mile-an-hour tornado ripped through northern Ontario mining town of Sudbury and the
surrounding communities of Copper Cliff, Lively and Field, without any warning.
The 10-minute windstorm resulted in the death of six people, injured 200, and caused over $17 million in damage. It was one of the worst tornados in Canadian history.
HUNDREDS LEFT WITHOUT HOME
FOUR KILLED AS 90 m.p.h. WINDS, RAIN SMASH THROUGH FOUR ONT. COMMUNITIES
Hundreds of the homeless sought shelter in schools, churches and private homes that Thursday night after a freak storm which killed at least four persons, injured about 150 and caused millions of dollars in property damage in four communities.
The storm, packing torrential rain and winds of up to 90 miles an hour, smashed through the nearby mining communities of Lively and Copper Cliff, into the southern edge of Sudbury and on to the logging community of Field 45 miles to the east.
The storm had the effect of a hurricane, leaving buildings in ruins, uprooting trees and sections of concrete sidewalk, smashing windows and vehicles and cutting power and telephone lines.
"I was scared as hell," said David Stott, who works at a refinery in Copper Cliff. "I thought the building was blowing up and there had been a big explosion."
"We just stood in the middle of the house," said J. P. Stevens after freeing his 12-year-old son from debris torn from the roof of their garage in Lively. "That's all we could do. Glass was flying all around."
Initial reports after the 30-minute storm hit at about 8:30 a.m. had placed the death toll at 10, but this was later amended as communications improved.
Listed as dead by police and Red Cross officials were:
PAUL REBACK, 67, a gardener with the Copper Cliff parks commission, struck by debris while working on a tractor in a park.
VINCENT HOWARD, 52, of Sudbury, pinned under a half-ton truck in which he was a passenger, when the vehicle was toppled by the wind on Highway 17.
MRS. CORDELLA QUENNEVILLE, 58, of Field, killed when the wind picked up her 35-foot house trailer, hurled it 200 feet against a deserted barn and pushed it 500 feet further on.
PASQUALE ROCCA, 57, of Toronto, an employee of Norco Construction, had been doing repairs at a house in Lively and took shelter in a garage when the storm hit. The wind hurled a camp trailer through the garage roof, pinning him to the floor.
NOTE: THE OFFICIAL DEATH TOLL WAS SIX
The mayors of Sudbury and Lively described their communities as disaster areas and called on army trainees, miners, boy scouts and volunteers to aid police, firemen and members of the Emergency Measures Organization to aid in relief work.
Police and hospital spokesmen said about 50 persons had been admitted to hospitals in the Sudbury area. Another 100 had been treated and released.
The Red Cross estimated that about 350 persons had been left homeless in the Sudbury and Lively areas, where 86 houses were destroyed and more than 100 heavily damaged. Some of the Sudbury homes were in the $50,000 range.
