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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1975-04-24, Page 5• • • • 0 There was Lower Towrp residents felt the impact of Friday's rains very early Saturday morn- ing, as'they evacuated their homes, carried furniture and perishable items to higher levels and left the area for dryer spots. River graters had risen greatly,overnight and water was swirling around the Lower Town homes long before the rest of Wing - ham even thought of getting up. The rude awakening for the town came too soon, however, via radio reports and, for those whO cared to venture out onto the main street, in visual impact. Older resi- dents of Wingham say the flood was worse than anything since the flood of 1948, but Worse or 'not, it was bad. Mrs. Murray Taylor of Scott St. said there was two inches of water in their base- ment Friday night, and the bottom our steps were covered by early Saturday morning. Not much later, the water outside came up to the trees on the lawn fronting Highway 4. "We started to move things up- stairs around 8:30 Saturday," she said, "and by 9:30 the first floor was under water." •wct r- Th Wit301z4m Ave Tb4140Y0 AP111 1075—ENte 5 ter, everywhere. The south entrance to Wingham via Highway 4 was flooded early Saturday morning. The effects were also felt by the buildings on either side of the road., Wayne Gibbons of Canadian Tire said the water was 16 inches high in the store on Saturday morning. When he came tq work that morning, he said, the parking lot had been flooded, but the water hadn't reached the walkway. The workers managed to pile thingsup higher, and the perishables, like bags of,!.fertilizer and charcoal, were re- moved later by volunteers working on trucks and trailers. Manager Lloyd Gilroy said that about 100 farmers and volunteers helped. to remove the perishables to the safety of the town storehouse. Leask's Firestone Tire Centre was rather more lucky. Gary Bennett said they managed to get most of the goods onto blocks and out of water's way. There was about a foot of water in the building, he said, but no real losses "except for labor." Employees worked all day Sunday and most of Monday to clear the building. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .• • • • • •• . • • • . • • The entire area, Was the scene of hectic activity later AattOrdaY morning, as traffic was detoured around the flooded bridge and men on tractors helped with the re- moval of perishable goods from the stores. "Don't get wet," one spectator shouted good-naturedly to the workers as they sloshed through the water to reach the flooded bufidings. And at times it seemed there were more ObServers than workers on the scene. Lower Town residents were less cheerful as the day'Wore on. The bridges leading to the area were under water, their homes were all but drowned in the swirling mael- Worn, and it didn't look as if the river was even close to subsiding. Most of the resi- dents had been eVtiCuated much earlier that morning, but they ringed the shrinking shores of the overflown waters and wat- ched the river cover their homes. They watched as the water carried away pos- sessions, battered walls and hurled huge trunks of trees against the foundations of buildings and bridgds. •- r • A. <•• *4.044000." Mc, • 'woo*. Pet dam **414440410fr • Business was not brisk at the Frosty Queen: <7. The I-Aowson 0,scene resented. Rising flood waters crossed No. 4 Highway at the town's southerly limits shortly after this picture was taken on Saturday. Murray Taylor's residence, upper right, was in the path of the flood waters. Rising waters of the Maitland flooded buildings on the east side of Josephine.