Survival: Hurricane!

Book excerpt: Caught in the eye of a hurricane! Would you survive? Michael reached for something -- anything -- to stop him from sliding off the roof, but there was nothing to hold on to. Nothing. He fell into the darkness and splashed into the icy water. The streets of Michael's Toronto neighbourhood were saturated, the Humber River swollen from days of pounding rain. Hurricane Hazel was devastating the Caribbean and southern United States, but no one expected Hazel to reach Toronto. No one was prepared. When the river overflows its banks, Michael's house is in danger of being swept away. Fleeing his home through the roof -- his only way of escape -- Michael plummets into the freezing water. How will he make it out alive? Hurricane Hazel was a category 4 hurricane that struck Toronto on the night of October 15, 1954. Winds of 110 km/hour and 285 mm of rain over 48 hours hit Toronto. Thousands were left homeless. Eighty-one people died in Toronto when waterways flooded, thirty-five of them on Raymore Drive near the Humber River.