In August, 1955, heavy rains caused from Hurricane Diane, created one of the greatest floods in the history of this region. Over the course of two days, rainfall totals in this area measured more than fifteen inches, causing brooks and streams to turn into raging torrents. Even some lakes overflowed, smashing dams and destroying roads.
Hurricane Diane took no mercy on the Town of Blandford, a mountain town in Western Massachusetts where I was born and lived. Being a mountain town, the only direction the water had to run was down. Therefore, all the rain that fell filled every drainage ditch, brook and stream to overflowing, making every road leading out of town in any direction, impassable for automobiles.
The outer bands of rain began in Blandford sometime late Thursday, August 18th and continued until the worst of the storm had moved out of the area during the late hours of Friday, August 19th
Go back in time a few months when the talk of the town was about a Turnpike that was going to be built from Boston to the New York State line and would pass through Blandford. No one knew the route it was actually going to take, so there was a lot of speculation. What was known--it was going to pass through Blandford somewhere.
My dad, David H. Ripley was guessing that it would run through the valley well over the hill behind our house, leaving our property untouched. I remember him telling this to Mom, Esther Mae Hart Ripley before the actual route was released. I think It was more to ease her mind than anything else so she wouldn't fret over losing their lively-hood and home.
It was when the surveyors came out of the woods at the lower west corner of our property that we knew where the Tumpike was going. It was obvious that all of our property would be taken by the state, and would put Pop out of business. He had built his small 300 chickens a year farm into a much larger poultry farm to where he raised nearly one thousand laying hens, and about 300 turkeys each year.
The State offered what Pop considered a minimal price for his property, and that didn't even take into consideration that this was a working farm and their lively-hood. He refused the offer went to court where the judge did award them slightly more than what the State offered, but considerably less than Pop was asking for.
Mom and Pop felt they were cheated out of a fair price, but they bit the bullet taking what was offered and began looking for another home in Blandford.
Warren Bodurtha, Mom's uncle, had recently built the first house on Wyman Road, a new road that turned west off Main Street at the north side of the Fire Station. It was a short street with only room for five, or six homes.
One Sunday afternoon, Mom and Pop, my wife, Jane and I, met the realtor to look at the house. It was a Ranch style house with a two car garage, 3 bedrooms, 1-1/2 baths, a dining room and a spacious living room with a working fireplace. We all agreed it was perfect for them, and with three bedrooms, it offered plenty of space when either, my brother Stanley and his family, or Jane and I with our family, came to visit
They bought the house and proceeded to close out their poultry farm before moving into the new home. Meanwhile, the turnpike was under construction and creeping closer to our property every day.
Little did they know that they were going to be forced into moving sooner than they expected. Hurricane Diane chose a bad time to pass through New England, specifically Blandford. Massachusetts, and create so much damage.
Pop had chosen Saturday, August, 20th as his moving day, which turned out to be the day after Hurricane Diane blew over Blandford and caused so much damage.
It was still raining when I got up that morning, but not as hard as it had been these past two days. Jane had David, age 2, dressed and ready to go with us up the street to Mom and Pop's, arriving about 8:00 AM, or so.
As I drove the half mile up Russell Road to Mom and Pop's house, we noticed the ditches on both sides of the road were still overflowing from run-off, and in some instances, the blacktop was washed away with deep chasms on each side, leaving just enough width for a car to drive between through. It was obvious the road damage was going to require a lot of fill and patching to repair it back to what it once was.
That wasn't the half of it, for at that time I didn't know all the roads leading out of town were totally washed away in many places, isolating Blandford from the rest of the world.
As I was about to turn into the long driveway leading to the house, I noticed that the once small "brook", as we always called it, had flooded the land on either side of the driveway washing all of the rocks and gravel that covered the two steel culverts that ran under the driveway, downstream leaving it spread out in the field on each side of the brook. The water had receded enough by now so it was mostly running through the culverts and not around them..
I stopped to examine the situation not knowing if I could drive across it to get to the house, or not. I then noticed that Pop had been out and filled the washout in with large rocks and loose gravel scraped up from where it lay in the nearby fields. He was able to patch the driveway enough so a vehicle driving slowly could cross over it and reach the house.
We cautiously drove over the patched driveway and on up to the house. When we went inside, we saw that Mom was busy in the kitchen doing something, but at that moment not knowing what she was doing. She greeted us by saying, "Come here, I want to show you something". She walked out of the kitchen to the cellar door and opened it. Jane and I looked expecting to see stairs leading down to the cellar floor, but instead saw - what? For a minute nothing registered, then almost in shock, we both looked at Mom-we were speechless. Muddy water was covering the very top step less than a half inch below the living room floor boards.
The cellar had a small drain pipe that always took care of any water that ran into the cellar in the past, but this time it was no match for the amount of water that came through the cellar walls and windows.
When World War II ended and the world was getting back to normal, although home appliances of every kind hadn't yet found their way back to the showroom floor. The war had brought about several new innovations, such as frozen foods that were fast becoming popular at local grocery stores. Anyone that had a refrigerator had a small freezer space that held only two or four ice cube trays leaving no room for packaged frozen foods. Some forward thinkers saw a way to cash in on the frozen food storage problem by building walk-in freezers with individual built-in lockers, that were rented by the month.
Pop could see the future for freezers in his line of business. He could butcher chickens and turkeys, mostly turkeys, in advance, freeze them so they were available year round. He built a large walk-in freezer in the cellar for storing his inventory of ready-for-the-oven chickens and turkeys. Then when he heard about the freezer lockers, he built a second walk-in freezer with lockers and rented them to people living in town who needed a place to store their frozen foods. I don't know how long it took for the chest type freezer to become available, perhaps a year or two, and this put an end to renting lockers to store frozen foods.
When the water from Hurricane Diane began to run into the cellar, Pop could see that the drain wasn't going to drain the water as fast as it was coming in. He realized he had to do something about the frozen turkeys and chickens, or they would soon be lost.. Mom usually had an answer and told him to bring them upstairs and she would cook and can them.
So, that's what Mom was doing when we arrived that Saturday morning-she was cooking and canning chickens and turkeys using the old standby, a wood fired kitchen stove. The weather outside was very warm, but the air inside the kitchen was warmer than that.
Fortunately, the lockers had previously been emptied by the renters knowing that Pop had lost his property to the State.
Just a few minutes after we arrived, Pop returned from taking a load of furniture to the new house. Now, he and I began moving the rest of the furniture using his "Woody" station wagon. The new house was barely a mile away, so round trips were made rather quickly.
It was a strange feeling as I walked on the floor knowing the water was lapping at the underside of the floor boards, wondering if I might fall through while carrying something heavy.
The water never got above the living room floor to damage any household items, and the patched driveway held up as we crossed over it all those so many times that day.
As the day wore on, the sun began to fill the void left by the retreating clouds. The water had receded considerably from the cellar by day's end. Mom and Pop would spend their first night in their new home filled with furniture and boxes that yet had to be arranged, emptied and the contents put away.
The Hurricane of 1955, Hurricane Diane, was now only a memory that would not be forgotten. The damage was done. Blandford was isolated from all surrounding towns for a few days before one road was finally opened, even though it was barely passable, but people could get to Westfield for supplies, and in many cases, work.
Postscript
The damage created in Western Massachusetts.
So many areas were washed out that more than 12,000 people had to seek help from the Red Cross. In Southwick, the Great Brook truly became "great" and soon stretched to more than 100 feet wide. Soon the town was cut off from most routes in, and anyone entering the town had to come from Connecticut.
In Westfield a water power dam gave way, destroying the South Maple Street neighborhood. Route 20 was cut off in twelve different locations across the state. All the towns along the Connecticut River were severely damaged and required Federal assistance. For one of the first times, helicopters played a key role in helping stranded survivors. In this area at least 22 people were actually rescued by helicopters from trees and rooftops.
Probably the worst accident related to this storm occurred when a passenger train, headed to Boston from Western Massachusetts, hit a washed out section of tracks in Woronoco. Approximately 30 people were injured, and two diesel engines, along with several passenger cars toppled down a steep embankment into the Westfield River.
When all was over, the loss of life and property was staggering. President Eisenhower designated approximately $75 million dollars (equivalent to $515 million dollars today) for the disaster. Six people were killed in Western Massachusetts, 40 died in Connecticut, and some 200 lost their lives throughout the Northeast.
Hurricane Diane took no mercy on the Town of Blandford, a mountain town in Western Massachusetts where I was born and lived. Being a mountain town, the only direction the water had to run was down. Therefore, all the rain that fell filled every drainage ditch, brook and stream to overflowing, making every road leading out of town in any direction, impassable for automobiles.
The outer bands of rain began in Blandford sometime late Thursday, August 18th and continued until the worst of the storm had moved out of the area during the late hours of Friday, August 19th
Go back in time a few months when the talk of the town was about a Turnpike that was going to be built from Boston to the New York State line and would pass through Blandford. No one knew the route it was actually going to take, so there was a lot of speculation. What was known--it was going to pass through Blandford somewhere.
My dad, David H. Ripley was guessing that it would run through the valley well over the hill behind our house, leaving our property untouched. I remember him telling this to Mom, Esther Mae Hart Ripley before the actual route was released. I think It was more to ease her mind than anything else so she wouldn't fret over losing their lively-hood and home.
It was when the surveyors came out of the woods at the lower west corner of our property that we knew where the Tumpike was going. It was obvious that all of our property would be taken by the state, and would put Pop out of business. He had built his small 300 chickens a year farm into a much larger poultry farm to where he raised nearly one thousand laying hens, and about 300 turkeys each year.
The State offered what Pop considered a minimal price for his property, and that didn't even take into consideration that this was a working farm and their lively-hood. He refused the offer went to court where the judge did award them slightly more than what the State offered, but considerably less than Pop was asking for.
Mom and Pop felt they were cheated out of a fair price, but they bit the bullet taking what was offered and began looking for another home in Blandford.
Warren Bodurtha, Mom's uncle, had recently built the first house on Wyman Road, a new road that turned west off Main Street at the north side of the Fire Station. It was a short street with only room for five, or six homes.
One Sunday afternoon, Mom and Pop, my wife, Jane and I, met the realtor to look at the house. It was a Ranch style house with a two car garage, 3 bedrooms, 1-1/2 baths, a dining room and a spacious living room with a working fireplace. We all agreed it was perfect for them, and with three bedrooms, it offered plenty of space when either, my brother Stanley and his family, or Jane and I with our family, came to visit
They bought the house and proceeded to close out their poultry farm before moving into the new home. Meanwhile, the turnpike was under construction and creeping closer to our property every day.
Little did they know that they were going to be forced into moving sooner than they expected. Hurricane Diane chose a bad time to pass through New England, specifically Blandford. Massachusetts, and create so much damage.
Pop had chosen Saturday, August, 20th as his moving day, which turned out to be the day after Hurricane Diane blew over Blandford and caused so much damage.
It was still raining when I got up that morning, but not as hard as it had been these past two days. Jane had David, age 2, dressed and ready to go with us up the street to Mom and Pop's, arriving about 8:00 AM, or so.
As I drove the half mile up Russell Road to Mom and Pop's house, we noticed the ditches on both sides of the road were still overflowing from run-off, and in some instances, the blacktop was washed away with deep chasms on each side, leaving just enough width for a car to drive between through. It was obvious the road damage was going to require a lot of fill and patching to repair it back to what it once was.
That wasn't the half of it, for at that time I didn't know all the roads leading out of town were totally washed away in many places, isolating Blandford from the rest of the world.
As I was about to turn into the long driveway leading to the house, I noticed that the once small "brook", as we always called it, had flooded the land on either side of the driveway washing all of the rocks and gravel that covered the two steel culverts that ran under the driveway, downstream leaving it spread out in the field on each side of the brook. The water had receded enough by now so it was mostly running through the culverts and not around them..
I stopped to examine the situation not knowing if I could drive across it to get to the house, or not. I then noticed that Pop had been out and filled the washout in with large rocks and loose gravel scraped up from where it lay in the nearby fields. He was able to patch the driveway enough so a vehicle driving slowly could cross over it and reach the house.
We cautiously drove over the patched driveway and on up to the house. When we went inside, we saw that Mom was busy in the kitchen doing something, but at that moment not knowing what she was doing. She greeted us by saying, "Come here, I want to show you something". She walked out of the kitchen to the cellar door and opened it. Jane and I looked expecting to see stairs leading down to the cellar floor, but instead saw - what? For a minute nothing registered, then almost in shock, we both looked at Mom-we were speechless. Muddy water was covering the very top step less than a half inch below the living room floor boards.
The cellar had a small drain pipe that always took care of any water that ran into the cellar in the past, but this time it was no match for the amount of water that came through the cellar walls and windows.
When World War II ended and the world was getting back to normal, although home appliances of every kind hadn't yet found their way back to the showroom floor. The war had brought about several new innovations, such as frozen foods that were fast becoming popular at local grocery stores. Anyone that had a refrigerator had a small freezer space that held only two or four ice cube trays leaving no room for packaged frozen foods. Some forward thinkers saw a way to cash in on the frozen food storage problem by building walk-in freezers with individual built-in lockers, that were rented by the month.
Pop could see the future for freezers in his line of business. He could butcher chickens and turkeys, mostly turkeys, in advance, freeze them so they were available year round. He built a large walk-in freezer in the cellar for storing his inventory of ready-for-the-oven chickens and turkeys. Then when he heard about the freezer lockers, he built a second walk-in freezer with lockers and rented them to people living in town who needed a place to store their frozen foods. I don't know how long it took for the chest type freezer to become available, perhaps a year or two, and this put an end to renting lockers to store frozen foods.
When the water from Hurricane Diane began to run into the cellar, Pop could see that the drain wasn't going to drain the water as fast as it was coming in. He realized he had to do something about the frozen turkeys and chickens, or they would soon be lost.. Mom usually had an answer and told him to bring them upstairs and she would cook and can them.
So, that's what Mom was doing when we arrived that Saturday morning-she was cooking and canning chickens and turkeys using the old standby, a wood fired kitchen stove. The weather outside was very warm, but the air inside the kitchen was warmer than that.
Fortunately, the lockers had previously been emptied by the renters knowing that Pop had lost his property to the State.
Just a few minutes after we arrived, Pop returned from taking a load of furniture to the new house. Now, he and I began moving the rest of the furniture using his "Woody" station wagon. The new house was barely a mile away, so round trips were made rather quickly.
It was a strange feeling as I walked on the floor knowing the water was lapping at the underside of the floor boards, wondering if I might fall through while carrying something heavy.
The water never got above the living room floor to damage any household items, and the patched driveway held up as we crossed over it all those so many times that day.
As the day wore on, the sun began to fill the void left by the retreating clouds. The water had receded considerably from the cellar by day's end. Mom and Pop would spend their first night in their new home filled with furniture and boxes that yet had to be arranged, emptied and the contents put away.
The Hurricane of 1955, Hurricane Diane, was now only a memory that would not be forgotten. The damage was done. Blandford was isolated from all surrounding towns for a few days before one road was finally opened, even though it was barely passable, but people could get to Westfield for supplies, and in many cases, work.
Postscript
The damage created in Western Massachusetts.
So many areas were washed out that more than 12,000 people had to seek help from the Red Cross. In Southwick, the Great Brook truly became "great" and soon stretched to more than 100 feet wide. Soon the town was cut off from most routes in, and anyone entering the town had to come from Connecticut.
In Westfield a water power dam gave way, destroying the South Maple Street neighborhood. Route 20 was cut off in twelve different locations across the state. All the towns along the Connecticut River were severely damaged and required Federal assistance. For one of the first times, helicopters played a key role in helping stranded survivors. In this area at least 22 people were actually rescued by helicopters from trees and rooftops.
Probably the worst accident related to this storm occurred when a passenger train, headed to Boston from Western Massachusetts, hit a washed out section of tracks in Woronoco. Approximately 30 people were injured, and two diesel engines, along with several passenger cars toppled down a steep embankment into the Westfield River.
When all was over, the loss of life and property was staggering. President Eisenhower designated approximately $75 million dollars (equivalent to $515 million dollars today) for the disaster. Six people were killed in Western Massachusetts, 40 died in Connecticut, and some 200 lost their lives throughout the Northeast.