Poor Millie was driven berserk by the winds last evening. She loves to chase leaves so likes a windy day. But the sound of the winds was overwhelmingly stimulating for her. She ran outside, then inside, barking and barking, repeating this continuously.
The headlines today say "howling winds lashed Ontario." And in the US it was "night of devastating tornadoes."
This is the season of storms around the Great Lakes - Lake Ontario gets its greatest waves. In some places the winds were up to 100 km/h. I think of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald which sunk November 10 1975 on Lake Superior. It was a big ship - 729 feet long. It was the largest ship to sink on the Great Lakes. The cause was never figured out and there was no distress signals before she sank. All 29 crew members died. It inspired Gordon Lightfoot's hit song, and caused increased regulations and practices for Great Lakes shipping.
We have our own story of a car in the water above the American side of Niagara Falls. A car was driven into the river on the American side on Wednesday and it went over the falls in the high winds in the night.
It was reported that a woman drove her car into the river which got to the rapids just above the American Falls, and lodged on rocks close to the edge. The Coast Guard took on the formidable task of rescue. Can you imagine the U.S. Coast Guard swimmer descending by cable from a hovering helicopter? He landed on top of the vehicle, climbed in through its window and rescued the person who was already dead. It is worth watching the dramatic video HERE - you can see how dangerous the winds are.
The water level in the Niagara River had jumped by 20 inches in the night as the strong winds pushed Lake Erie water downstream: the amount of water going over the Falls increased by 50% in the night taking the car with it.
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