1950 Red River Flood
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The 1950 Red River Flood was a devastating flood that took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada on May 8, 1950. In that year, the Red River reached its highest level since 1861 and flooded the Red River Valley.
Over the course of four days, the water crept inexorably higher.
Winnipeg was ill-prepared for such a huge swell of water, even though it predictably followed heavy snows in the winter and heavy rains in the spring. Eight dikes gave way and flooded much of the city, turning 600 square miles (1,600 km²) of farmland into an enormous lake. The city turned to the Canadian Army and the Red Cross for help.
In the end, four of eleven bridges were destroyed and nearly 100,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes and businesses making it Canada's largest evacuation in history. Only one person, Lawson Ogg, lost his life to the flood but the final tally in damage was estimated at between $600 million[1] and over a billion dollars.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "A city submerged: Winnipeg and the flood of 1950" The CBC Digital Archives Website. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Last updated: 14 Aug. 2003. <http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-70-670-3783/disasters_tragedies/manitoba_floods/clip1>.
- ^ SOS! Canadian Disasters, a virtual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada
[edit] References
- SOS! Canadian Disasters, a virtual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada
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