This week marks forty years since a historic 1974 flood in Cambridge. It was caused by weeks of wet weather and spring melt, and is still one of the largest floods ever recorded in the Grand River watershed.
Despite this, Grand River Conservation Authority communications manager Dave Schultz says storms of that size will happen again.
“We will have that size of a storm, but it won't have that same impact on Cambridge as it had. The river can now handle flows that are fifty percent higher than they were in 1974,” he says.
Some residents who were around when it happened say they saw the water rise, while others were working to save lives.
“What I saw that day was amazing. To see the flood coming and never expecting to see the water that high or coming that fast,” says retired police officer Dan Schmalz.
He shared his story at Cambridge city hall, where community members came to remember that day.
“I was assigned foot patrol in the downtown core of Cambridge where the flooding was the most severe. My job was to patrol the area, make sure there were no deaths, and trying to keep people out of buildings that were flooded,” he says.
No one died and no one was seriously hurt, but as Lorraine Shuttleworth remembers, the flood devastated the community. Her husband, who is also a police officer, was working that day.
“Terrible, terrible, terrible. It was sad to see the merchants down there and everything being damaged,” she says.
Even though the catastrophe led to destruction, some good did come of it. The city has now developed a flood protection system through the river basin.
