Survivor reflects on the tragic 1961 Timmins Town Creek Flood
A flood that happened in Timmins 60 years ago is being remember by a survivor. Suzanne Girard Whissell said Sept. 1 is a day that changed her life forever and she wants others to know about this historic event.
On the night of Aug. 31, 1961, there was a thunderstorm and pouring rain that filled the basement apartment where Girard Whissell was sleeping with her family, on Wilson Avenue, next to the Town Creek.
At around 1 a.m. water rushed into the apartment. Her father managed to her out and then an upstairs neighbour kept her safe while her father tried rescuing the rest of the family.
Girard Whissell was 12 years old at the time and has never forgotten that fateful night.
“My dad left the house and he started screaming on Wilson in French that his family was drowning and nobody could understand what he was saying," she said.
"First of all, he was French and it was an English neighbourhood. So that’s when Mr. Taylor, across the street, saw my father running in the water. He thought my father was drunk. So when he seen the water, he said, 'oh my gosh my kids are downstairs.' So he went downstairs and there was water there also ... He said Mr. Girard maybe he didn’t save his family, but he saved my two sons.”
The house was relocated to nearby Commercial Avenue and is still home to others. A plaque was erected in 1979 where the flooding took place and the Town Creek was re-routed.
Suzanne Girard Whissell wrote an autobiography to ensure her family and others are aware of the tragedy that happened on Wilson Avenue 60 years ago, when flooding of the Town Creek filled her family's basement apartment with water, drowning her mother and four siblings. (Lydia Chubak/CTV News)
Girard Whissell managed to carry on with her life, living with her father and extended family. She married, had children and great grandchildren.
She's hoping the city will one day make an effort to beautify the area where her family members died.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'