One of the most devastating windstorms to ever hit Isle Madame occurred in October 20^th, 1974. That Sunday, myself and the staff of LeBrun’s Hardware, had agreed to work in preparation for the coming Christmas holidays. We were hauling out the boxes of goods to place on the shelves and make Christmas displays. Sometime in the early afternoon we noticed the old building was shaking whenever there was a gust of wind. Paul Tyrrell motioned me over to the window in the back of the store to show me the lumberyard. What lumberyard? There was water right up to the building and the loose lumber was hitting against the store.

This prompted me to call home and see how thing were going up there. My husband Johnny reported the shingles were coming off the roof, but everything else was fine. I went back to work, but not for long. The gusts were getting stronger and my gut was telling me to get out. When I called home again, this time the t.v. antenna tower was crumbled on the ground and the selkirk chimney went rolling down the field. "that’s it! I’m coming home!". "No" Johnny says "your safer there. We’re alright, stay put". When I tried to call back a few minutes later, I couldn’t get an answer. No way could I stay in that store. I asked Paul to follow me in his car and we set out for home. Paul lived just up the road from me and he was concerned for his own family. The rest of the staff decided to follow suit and go home.

The drive home was horrendous. Debris was everywhere and flying about. I kept swerving to miss obstacles on the road. When I drove pass U.J. LeBlanc’s lumberyard pieces of lumber kept hitting the side of the car. I noticed some people had already boarded up their windows after they had burst from the severe wind. When I finally got to the hill by the bank I cut my wheels to turn up but soon realized I wouldn’t be getting home this way. One of Arichat’s oldest trees was lying across the road. I drove around the old Municipal Building, Paul following and kept on going down on the lower road. The wind was fierce so close to the water, but I was determined to get home with my family. Driving pass the funeral home was hair-raising when all four wheels of the car lifted off the road and I felt myself floating. I landed with a bang but it didn’t slow me down. ‘One more hill and I’m home! Dear God don’t knock down anymore trees!’

I didn’t know what I would find when I reached home, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Our new home was ripping apart! The Television tower we had painstakingly erected was crumbled like matchsticks. Most of the shingles were gone exposing the bare roof. The siding on both sides of the house were ripped off and nowhere to be found. After several tries I made it to the front door where Johnny was holding it open. Inside the house the wind was making a howling sound as if it was ready to come down on our heads. Johnny, Lisa and Dean had spent the last hour in the basement, but I felt we should get out of the house altogether. We opted for his mother’s house across the road and headed out. We had just gotten in when I looked out the window and saw the roof of the liquor store rip off and float to the ground.

By late afternoon the winds finally died down and people started coming out of their homes to check the damage. A lot of people got into their cars and drove around the Island to see how their neighbors had made out. What they saw was a shock to us all.

The drugstore that was due to open that week was reduced to a pile on rubble. People were in the store preparing for it's opening just minutes before it literally exploded from the force of the wind. The liquor store roof I had witnessed blow of, was splattered in the front parking lot. From the roof of my house you could look right down into the store. Guards were placed around the building to prevent people from climbing the wall to get inside. Almost every mobile home on the island was completely demolished. Most were torn from their foundations and rolled several times spreading their contents all over the fields. Power lines were down everywhere and it would be days before everyone got their power back. By far, the worst devastation was the loss of all our old trees. The Court House trees lay resting on the front pillars. Connie Madden’s trees were detached from it’s roots and had to be cut down. Nature gives and Nature takes away.

The worst news was yet to come. Two lives were lost when two men decided to get in their little dory and fetch cresol logs that had drifted out into the harbor. Their dory was swept out past the point and never seen again.

That night Arichat was covered in darkness. The People of Isle Madame were rattled to their souls. Never had anyone witnessed such a force of nature. It was later learned the winds had reached a peek of 120 miles an hour. Johnny and I returned to our home with our children that night, but no one wanted to sleep in their own bedroom. We placed our mattress on the living room floor and all four of us lay together, thankful we were alive. For supper we lit the fondue and ate steak and mushrooms, sitting around the coffee table. We were one of the first houses to get power the next day, so we cooked breakfast for the men who guarded the liquor store.

Eventually the power was restored, a new drugstore was built and mobile homes were replaced with conventional ones. Arichat was changed forever because of the loss of it’s trees, but the worst was the lives lost that day and the innocence of the people.
Pictures Of Storm Damage

Written by; Jeanne Joyce-Stone
 
 

This is what's left of the new drugstore that was due to open within a week.
 

This home was ripped from it's foundation and landed on the other side of the road.
(See below)

 

This is all that remains of a moble home after landing on the opposite side of the road.

 

The Liquor Store roof flipped over and landed in the front parking lot

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The owner of this moble home was trapped in the washroom
throughout the storm.

 

.This building was suppose to be a tavern but never got finished
and the storm finished it off.

 

The owner of this moble home had stepped out on the door step to leave,
when it rolled several time before resting on this spot.

 

 
 

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