Megan H.

What was the most interesting thing you learned about your topic?

The most interesting thing that I learned about Hurricane Hazel was people's personal stories. For example, one family's home became their life-raft and floated for an entire night, the house had traveled over 2 km before it came to rest. The stories gave me extra historical information about the worst hurricane in Canadian history.

What important lessons have you learned that you want to share with other Canadians?

An important lesson that I learned, was that we all must help each other, even in our darkest hour. In the Holland Marsh, many sacrifices were made to rescue and then provide shelter to families and friends. Hearing people's personal stories has inspired me to try and help others whenever I can.

How would you compare your life today to the lives of those studied in your project?

My life today is very comfortable compared to the lives of those living in the Holland Marsh in 1954. Many of the families living in the Holland marsh were hard-working farmers that struggled to provide for their families. With the advances in technology, I think we would be informed if a hurricane was approaching so that we could be prepared, unfortunately this was not the case when Hurricane Hazel struck the Holland Marsh. Currently, the canal in the Holland Marsh, is being moved and the dikes strengthened to prevent a disaster like this from ever happening again.