HomeMy WebLinkAbout588"Article taken from The News Advertiser, July 14, 1996, page 8.
The day that hell descended on Frenchman's Bay
Pickering residents were forced to pick up the pieces after a tornado touched down in the
bay area 30 years ago
BY CHRISTY CHASE
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS ADVERTISER
PICKERING -- At 8 a.m. on a summer day 30 years ago, the skies over Frenchman's
Bay in Pickering darkened and hell descended on the waterfront.
Trees were crushed like tin cans, boats turned upside down and planes hurled into the bay
or up against buildings.
Jim Moore, owner of Moore Haven Wharf, and Jim McKean, who owned Keen Kraft
Marina Ltd., remember the 10 minutes of sheer destruction on July, 28, 1966 well.
It was the Frenchman's Bay tornado.
""It was quite serious,"" says Mr. McKean.
""There were no personal injuries but it was close. The only time I've seen worse was in
Florida.
""It blew the roof right off our office. It sent our picnic tables into the next county.
""We never did find them.
""It picked up boats and threw them across the marina. It scared the hell out of everybody.""
""It came right through here,"" Mr. Moore says, sketching out a path over the bay from the
northwest to south-east with his hand.
Commerce and Front Streets and south Liverpool Road seemed to be the centre of the
twister's devastation, Mr. Moore says.
""People say it can't happen here but it has. We've had lots of sharp storms but this was
something more than that""
Mr. Moore was at his home across the bay from his marina that morning when the skies
darkened.
""At 8 o'clock in the morning it was like night.""
Then the twister descended. In 10 minutes, it was all over.
Mr. Moore pumped the water out of a small tugboat he had tied up near his home and
headed to the east side of the bay to check on things there.
Halfway across, he turned around and went back for his camera.
His first glance had told him he'd want to capture the havoc on film.
Transformers caught fire and trees were levelled everywhere. Docks were ripped loose
and a crane was snapped off at the base at Moore Haven Wharf.
See BAY...Page 8
Cont'd
A 30-foot trimaran was flipped over, its mast stuck in the mud.
The damage was haphazard. Two float planes were tossed about like toys while a third
was left untouched.
A dinghy crashed into the side of a house which had its south windows blown out. Items on
a nearby picnic table were left intact.
Mr. Moore says damage probably amounted to $ 1 million.
""I thought it looked like war."" Mr. Moore says.
In this photo taken in 1966 by marina owner Jim Moore, a float plane rests upside down in
Frenchman's Bay where it was tossed about by a tornado. Another plane
(seen in the background) was left undisturbed during the 10-minute twister,
illustrating the unpredictable nature of tornadoes.
PAGE 8-THE NEWS ADVERTISER SUNDAY, JULY 14.1996
"