In the history of Niagara Falls, Aug. 29, 1975 will always be remembered for the unfathomable loss of life that unfolded on that single day.
Five construction workers, working the second shift, drowned when they were trapped by water in a flooded tunnel being used to build the Southside Interceptor Sewer project at Royal Avenue and 47th Street.
Earlier in the day, a young mother and her child died from injuries they suffered when their house caught fire on Third Street near Whirlpool Street. And in between those two tragedies, three people on a whitewater rafting ride were killed when their raft overturned in the lower Niagara River rapids and they were trapped underneath it.
Ten deaths, all in just 24 hours.
On the 50th anniversary of those tragedies, the families of the construction workers, along with city and Niagara Falls Water Board officials, paused to remember the loss of life with a service Friday by the memorial bench and garden that honors the construction workers outside the board’s Wastewater Treatment plant on Buffalo Avenue.
Water Board Executive Director and General Counsel Sean Costello implored the attendees to never forget the workers’ names: Joseph Della Valle, Robert Frank, Steven Hill, Waymon Owens and Floyd Richard Wilcox.
“We honor them here today because the tunnel they died building still exists. And it is part of a system that leads to this very spot,” Costello said. “We honor them by remembering that their work contributed to the construction of a critical part of the sewer infrastructure that serves this wastewater treatment plant, and therefore our community and the environment, to this day. This means that their work is still meaningful and impactful, half a century after their deaths.”
Rick Roll, a former water board engineer, said the interceptor sewer work was part of a $160 million project designed to support what was, in 1975, the largest carbon-activated wastewater treatment plant in the United States. The tunnel where the men died was being carved through rock, 40 feet below ground.
The five construction workers were in the tunnel, underneath Royal Avenue, when a heavy rainstorm unleashed over an inch of water in less than an hour. That water broke through a containment barrier, with a combination of stormwater and wastewater entering and rapidly filling the tunnel.
“The five men could not make their way against the rushing water to reach an escape hatch,” Roll said. “They showed up for work and ended up losing their lives.”
Duane Ford, Robert Frank’s first cousin and a grammar school classmate of Steven Hill, said both men “enjoyed” their jobs on the tunnel project.
“It was a good thing and it was gonna improve the city,” Ford said.
Kyle Hill was just 4 years old when her dad didn’t come home from work that day. But she can still recall his love of sports and his favorite song, “Benny and the Jets” by Elton John.
“He loved his children and all his nieces and nephews,” she said. “He was a good father, son and brother.”
Falls Mayor Robert Restaino said there were “no words” that would “eliminate the pain and tragedy of that day.”
“Their deaths were a tragedy, but their work had meaning,” Restaino said. “They protected human health and the environment.”
Standing at the stone bench, with the workers’ names engraved on it, and five shovels with hard hats atop them behind it, Costello said, “It is appropriate that we pause to honor the memory of these individuals. Their sacrifice is a reminder of the risks faced by those who work to build and maintain our city’s infrastructure.”