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Private Notes
The workers at the Hillcrest Mine had started the morning shift on June 19, 1914 when an explosion rips through tunnel 33. 189 miners die in the worst mining disaster in Canadian history.
Tragedy strikes one afternoon at a circus and one winter night at a movie theater.
Until the Hartford Circus Fire, circuses performed in large canvas tents, waterproofed with paraffin and kerosene. In 1944, a Ringling Brothers tent caught fire near Hartford, Connecticut, resulting in the fiery deaths of 168 persons, mostly children - heralding the end of the big top era.
In October 1954 an unexpected weather system hurls Hurricane Hazel out of the Caribbean via a low pressure system to re-energize over Lake Ontario, slamming into Toronto and causing 80 deaths. Swollen river systems flooded city streets and forced the city to re-engineer waterways and parks to avoid unnecessary fatalities.
Examines the trail of destruction left behind by volcanic eruptions. Mont Pelee; Tangiwai.
In a wealthy enclave of Texas, the Consolidated School has illegally tapped into a 'wet' natural gas line to save the cost of heating. When contractors maintaining the school puncture the gas line, odorless gas fills the building, and a spark sets off an explosion that kills 455 people. Local hospitals run out of bandages, undertakers can't meet the demand for coffins and the community is forever changed. Legislation is passed that introduces mercaptan into natural gas, giving it the telltale odor we recognize today.
Seventy eight sealers die on an ice shelf in 1914.
The greatest disaster ever to strike the Great Lakes was the 1913 Lake Huron Storm.
Examines the destructive force of nature on human shelters.
In 1911 a massive eruption at Mt. Taal killed 1,335 people through a combination of lava flow and a tsunami.
One of the worst mining cases in 1958 in Nova Scotia; a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911 in New York City.
Rapid City Creek floods, destroying homes, cars and businesses.
Cyclone Tracy damages Darwin, Australia, on Christmas Eve 1974.
A hurricane strikes the Florida Keys on Sept. 2, 1935.
Dry temperatures and strong winds ignite brush fires in Victoria, Australia, in 1939, killing 71 people.
An aircraft descends through snow showers until it hits treetops and then the ground killing 20 people.
At a 1944 Ringling Brothers Circus show, the main tent catches fire killing 168 spectators.
Young girls leapt to their death rather than to face the flames during a factory fire in 1911.
A tornado touches down just outside Windsor in 1946.
A flood covers one tenth of the city of Winnipeg.
Examines the aftermath of a fire that broke out in a Boston nightclub in 1942.
In June of 1958 18 men were killed while building the Second Narrows Bridge across the Burrard Inlet.
In 1954, a Harvard RCAF trainer and a Trans-Canada North Star collide killing 37.
A train full of holiday travelers attempted to cross a damaged bridge and falls into the Whangaehu River.
Examines the devastating motor sport accident that occurred during the 1955 Le Mans race in France.
Two ships collide causing a massive explosion with devastating results.
A fire broke out on the tour ship Noronic claiming the lives of 118 passengers and crew.
An earthquake causes a tsunami that kills over 246 people.
A cluster of 148 tornadoes rages through the American midwest killing 324 people.
A tornado rages through Regina in 1912 destroying neighborhoods, churches, and many stone buildings.
Examines the 1903 disaster where the side of a mountain disintegrated dumping debris on the sleeping people in the town below.
Water is mightier than the humans who try to harness its power.
Halifax explosion; Le Mans race car crash.
The Regina tornado; the American super outbreak.
The Frank Slide; The Hillcrest Mine disaster.
Kwanto earthquake; Mangua, Nicaragua.
Tragedy strikes during the middle week of October, 1913.
Noronic fire; the Cocoanut Grove fire.
Hurricane Hazel; the 1960 Great Chilean tsunami.
Empire State building crash; Moose Jaw air crash.
The Quebec Bridge; the Molasses Flood disaster.
The Minaki Special, an outdated wooden passenger train, collides with the all-steel Transcontinental in 1947, killing 30 people; a 1910 snow avalanche buries 60 rail workers in British Columbia.
