In August 1955, the Farmington Valley was struck first by the edge of Hurricane Connie and then by Hurricane Diane, whose heavy and torrential rains saturated the Farmington River and overwhelmed the valley’s waterways. In the early morning of August 19, 1955, floodwaters reached critical mass on the riverbanks and rushed into the sleeping valley below, ripping houses from their foundations and carrying them and cars down the streets. Local police officers and firefighters tried to locate and help victims trapped in their homes, and Farmington Police Officer Charles J. Yodkins, Sr. had already rescued many residents that day when he learned that the Frey family was stranded in the River Glen neighborhood. He found a boat at the home of Joseph J. Morin, Jr., a local college student, and Morin agreed to help rescue the family. While the Frey family was being loaded into the boat, it capsized, and Yodkins, Morin, and the Frey family died in the raging floodwaters. For their life-saving efforts, Yodkins and Morin received the Carnegie Medal, and on the fiftieth anniversary of their deaths the Farmington Police Department posthumously awarded Yodkins the Department's Medal of Valor and Morin the Citizen's Award.