The 1922 Flood in Philipsburg (Photo : Archives Of The Author)
It is beginning to look like spring ; the crocuses and daffodils are showing their buds. The weather is balmy ; you can really see that winter is finally over.
All at once the sky is cloudy, the wind is picking up with a fury, there are huge waves splashing water over the road. It looks like a storm at sea, just like in the movies. The water keeps rising and covers the road beyond the homes originally built, close to the shoreline. The fog is rolling in, very heavy, you cannot see the sky nor the earth, and the wind keeps howling and pushing the water onto the land. It is now afternoon and quitting time at the local elementary school. My mother starts down the hill, past the rail-road track (it is non-existent today) when she realizes that she cannot make it home on foot. There is water every-where. So she walks back to the school and Lord and behold, there is her brother in a row boat, near the Catholic Church, waving frantically at her to let her know that he will pick her up and bring her home. What a relief !
This event took place eighty-four years ago and lasted approximately three to four days. The house shown in the photo belonged to Mrs. Flawn from Montreal, then sold to Mrs. Lillian Gilbert. At the time of this flood, there was no retaining wall of any kind, but since that day, the road was made much wider and many other changes were brought about to the shoreline.
We will hope and pray this does not happen again, as you can clearly see, a picture is worth a thousand words.