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Page 6, Thursday, September 9th, 1971, WHITBY FREE PRESS Whitby Hardest Hit By Rainfall -hy Whitby-The Town of Whitby was hard hit by floods caused b y a steady rain which fell for over 24 hours. Residents were facedwith an over- abundance of water with no pl ace to put it. The rain, which started early Fri- day, continued to come down in a steady torrent until Saturday evening and the flooding was general ail over the town, although the low lying areas received the most damage. Drainage di tches that normal ly have only two or three inches of water in them suddenly swelled up to over five and six f e et in width and as much as five feet deep. -115 Calls for the help of the fire dept. Many residents were alarmed to dis- cover water coming up out of their base- ment floor drains, and by 9:00 p.m., Saturday night, the Whitby Fire Dep- a r t m e n t had received overlIl5 calls from people wanting basements pumped out. For the Fire Department the battle w as hopeless because in many cases the b a s e ments w e r e lower than the s u r r o unding flood waters and there just wasn' t any pi ace nearby to pump the water to without having it return sec- onds later. By lateSaturday the Maple Street- PerryStreet area looked like a small river. Further south of there at the intersection of Mary Street and Ash Street, asmall lakehadformed cover- i ng not only the fields, but parts of Ash Street as welI. Herb Robinson Automotive on Mary S t r e e t needed assistance from t h e Works Department to try to hold back the flood waters. The Railroad underpass on Thick- son Roadsouth filled up with water on Satur day , and Police had to erect barriers on Thickson Road just south of Woolco Department Store. Although the barriers were up and peoplehad been warned of the flooded underpass, many chose to "give it a try" anyway. P. C. John R. Watson of the Whitby Police Department said, "ItIs surpris- ing the number of people who ignored the barriers. " What happened to the people who decided to give the flooded'underpass a try ? Weli many won't admit ever hav- ing been there, but all of those brave souls w ho tried had to be towed out, and one car was repor ted to have gone into the water right up to the roof1ine. Some people suggested that perhaps the driver was a scuba driver. Leakage at Woolco Woolco Department Store al so suf- fered damage from the incessant rains. Mr. Shoniker, Assistant DivisionMan- ager at the store said, "We discovered water leakage in theceiling tiles about 1:30 p. m. " The roof of the store kept gathering the rain unti I the drain pipes couldn't handle it any longer and the rain leaked through into the store a- bove a clothing section. Other areas of the store hi t by leaks i n the roof were: a stock area, em- ployees' rest room, receiving area, as wel1i as the main part of the store. Jim Quail RELIEF FUND ESTABLISHED FOR WHITBY FLOOD VICTIMS! Arelief fund, such as the Sudbury Disaster Fund, will be set up on be- h a i f of t h e Whi tby homeowners who suffered property damage in the Aug- ust28thstorm, by the special commit- tee of council who have been exploring thedispositionof themattersince Iast week's special meeting. Establishment of the fund, which w i Il have an immedia te set up, was prompted by ihe magnitude of the storm, explained by committee chairman, Dep- u t y R e e ve Jo h n Goodwin as having dumped the highest amount of rainfall1 on Whitby since the year 1882. "But any redress to those people concerned, will depend largely on the success of the fund itselff", warns Mayor Desmond Newman. T h e cloth i n g was removed from the floor section and employees rigged a canopy to catch t h e water and funnel it intogarbage pails on the floor. Mr. Shoniker said, "We just poked a hole in the ceiling tiles and it worked out ai 1 right. " According to Mr. Shoniker, the building has been settling all summer along the roof line and this is not the first time the roof has leaked. Mr. Shoniker explained that there was no loss of goods, on I y a loss of t i m e involved in cl1 e aring stock and se t t i n g up the canopies to catch the water. Sunday afternoon around town look- ed like a giant rummage sale as many residents had their basement possess- ions spreadoutall over their lawns in the warm sun to dry. Damage to homeowners in the low- lying areas of the town was extrenely heavy. Sewage back up in one basemnent reached the keys of a Ddby Grand pi ano. The committee wil also appeal for the hel p of the Provincial Government. "AI though we a r e aware that t h e provincial government has turned down municipal applications in similar in- stances, we (the committee) hope that the Whitby application will be treated as a separate and del iberate appeal. " Mr. Goodwin aiso disclosed at the Tuesday night meeting, that investi- gations to date indicate that there is no I iability on the part of the corp- oration. "The town", he said, "recognizes an d w i1I 1 c o n tinue to recognize the right of those persons concerned to p roc e e d with the help of their res- pective solicitors. Local banks will be receiving any monies coming in for the relief fund, and plans are novw underway for a kick-off benefit bal 1 to be held at Heydenshore Pavi lion. A female telephone caller told the FREE PRESS that she had rescued frogs in the flooded basement of a neighbour. Another Whitby resident was able to 1 manouever, a canoe around in the waters in his basement, and was tele- c a s t on C h a nnel 9 when he took the canoe out on the street latev on. Some Whitby res idents had their recreation rooms and basement apart- ments destroyed, and sti1l1 others were without the use of major appliances. In a special meeting ca:led at the muni ci pal building last Wednesday, th e s e people were advised by coun- cil to contact their family solicitors. A group of these ratepayers has been advised by poli tical figures outside the municipality to engage a Toronto soli- citor w ho deals strictly in municipal affairs.