Wednesday, July 3, 2019

July 4, 1969 Storm – Lorain Journal Coverage

Tomorrow is the big 50th Anniversary of the July 4, 1969 storm. Are you old enough to remember it?

Although it was not on the same scale as the 1924 Lorain Tornado, the terrible flooding that occurred as a result of that storm is still fresh in the memory of many Northeast Ohio residents – especially Vermilionites.

I remember that my family headed down to our basement as we did whenever a storm seemed particularly threatening. But I remember more how we took a drive over to Vermilion a day or so later to check out the flooding by Mill Hollow.

My parents saved the Journal from the next day. That's it as the top of this post. (Gee, the paper sure was a lot wider back then. And I still think the Morning Journal should bring back 'Today's Chuckle.')

Here's the bottom half.

And here are some of the photos and news reports from that awful event. Avon Lake seems to have been hit particularly hard.


Anyway, I’m sure the 50th Anniversary will attract more media attention than the 40th.

 Tomorrow: The aftermath of the storm in Vermilion

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UPDATE (July 8, 2019)
Here's the article about the four boys who were checking out the flooding at the Lorain Country Club and accidentally got stranded in two trees before eventually being rescued. The article ran in the Journal on July 6, 1969.

I have to admit that the comment by the mother of one of the rescued boys is hilarious!


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5 comments:

  1. BusterJuly 3, 2019 at 4:04 PM

    Fascinating - I missed the whole thing, away at college.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 3, 2019 at 6:45 PM

    Dan,

    I barely remember since I was 7 years old. I don't recall the storm itself, but I remember it was a nice 4th of July day to start. The morning after the storm everyone was outside assessing damage. Our area on Meister Road wasn't too bad except down limbs but lots of buzz about damage across the area. I think of it every 4th, scary but exciting too for a kid.
    Chuck
    Jackson, MI

    ReplyDelete
  3. StringbobJuly 3, 2019 at 11:37 PM

    Dan. The discussion came up today that tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of when my brother, John and three friends took refuge in a tree to avoid the flood waters. The tree happened to be on a fairway of Oak Hills country club. The Journal did an article on the episode, but I'll be darned if we can find it. Any chance you have it. He thinks the story was, "Four Boys Stranded On Fairway Tree".

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  4. Dan BradyJuly 4, 2019 at 7:58 AM

    I just looked, and the story Is not in the July 5th Journal shown on this post. But the next time I’m at the library, I’ll check the following days for it and post it when I find it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. StringbobJuly 4, 2019 at 9:28 AM

    Thanks you, Dan!
    I look forward to the time when the Journal is digitized. Talk about a huge task..

    ReplyDelete