Written By Alice Gibb
With the current drought drying up streams around southwestern Ontario, it’s hard to imagine the damage caused by the 1937 floods. But that April, the Thames and Ausable Rivers, and streams like Medway Creek, spilled over their banks, threatening many communities.
On April 26, the first serious floods derailed the CN Flyer No. 4, the crack train that made the run from Montreal to Chicago. A washout at Beachville, just west of Woodstock, led to the derailment. Miraculously, the passengers escaped unharmed, but a fireman was killed instantly, and another trainman was trapped in his cab. The floods somewhere near Woodstock later delayed a second train, CPR Train No. 21.
The total rainfall during a 36-hour period from midnight on Saturday night to 1 p.m. on Monday afternoon, was 3.32 inches, which weathermen believed exceeded anything on record. In Broughdale in London Township, and in London West, the Thames spilled over its banks. Many people living on London’s floodplains had to be rescued by boats or canoes.
Before the floodwaters receded, over 5,000 people were left homeless.
The debris that floated underneath the Blackfriars Bridge included chickens, smashed timbers and haystacks.
In Exeter, over 400 pupil and high school students enjoyed what was probably a welcome holiday from their viewpoint. That happened when the janitor found that waters from the rising Ausable River had flooded the school basement, leaving the furnace under water. Not far away, the village of Fullarton experienced the worst flooding in its history.
Rural mail delivery was halted, several roads were completely under water and seeding was delayed by at least two weeks.
In Dorchester, about 90 per cent of the homes in the village suffered flooded basements. As it raced along, the south branch of the Thames River took out woodpiles, outhouses and anything else in its path. At one point, men had to use a quarter mile of towrope to rescue a stranded Hydro truck from floodwaters along Hamilton Road.
In Strathroy, a large section of the highway bridge that crossed the Sydenham River at the town limits was washed away in the night.
In London Township, one elderly woman was trapped in her home on Adelaide Street North, between Cons. 4 and 5. Each time her frantic son tried to reach the house, he was turned back by the swirling waters. It was assumed the woman would be another flood victim, but when firemen reached the house by boat, they found her lying, alive, on the couch.
She had written a note, and posted it high above her head, outlining her last wishes in case rescuers couldn’t reach her.
At Elginfield’s brickyard, only the tops of the buildings and the stack were visible above the floodwaters.
This flood eventually led to the opening of the Fanshawe Dam by the Upper Thames Conservation Authority in 1953.
