I've decided to repost what I wrote about the flood last year for a couple of different reasons - but the main one is because - I have run across people actually making fun of the flood - on my site (their comments never make it thru now) along with another site - where some people are down right nasty. I can't take it - but I guess some people are just born being an ass!
Here you go: I've been thinking for a long time what I was going to say on this anniversary of the 1977 Johnstown Flood and I think the best thing I can think of - is to simply take a moment to remember the names of the victims - who sometimes get overlooked because those of us that survived are too busy telling our own tales. But for you younger readers - I want you to understand why you should pay attention when you hear stories about the flood - it's special because done of us ever thought it would happen again - let alone to us.
Here you go: I've been thinking for a long time what I was going to say on this anniversary of the 1977 Johnstown Flood and I think the best thing I can think of - is to simply take a moment to remember the names of the victims - who sometimes get overlooked because those of us that survived are too busy telling our own tales. But for you younger readers - I want you to understand why you should pay attention when you hear stories about the flood - it's special because done of us ever thought it would happen again - let alone to us.
The monument in Central Park.
In all 80 men, women and children died and 8 victims are still missing to this day.
LIST OF VICTIMS:
Old Conemaugh Borough
Julie A. Luther - Age 8
Mary Ann Luther - Age 36
Hornerstown
Kimberly Keck - Age 23
Michael Vincent Keck - Age 3
Vincent Keck - Age 28
Michelle Keck - Age 2 - Still Missing
Walnut Grove
Helen Schofield - Age 61
James E. Schofield - Age 28
Donald Cover Jr. - Age 23
West End
Nancy Cooper - Age 30
Dale Borough
Marie C. Cobaugh - Age 70
Edith Faye Emmel - Age 41
Judy Emmel - Age 7
William H. Emmel - Age 43
Robert Leroy Hershberger - Age 89
Norman J. Pfeil - Age 63
Raymond Rhoads - Age 34 - Still Missing
James Edward Smith - Age 39
Todd James Smith - Age 7
Troy Jay Smith - Age 8
--------------------------------------
LIST OF VICTIMS:
Seward
Shawn Michael Dixon - Age 11 - Still Missing
Florence Lydic - Still Missing
Strongstown
Robert Stephens - Age 40 (Stevens)
Tanneryville
Allen Lee Blough - Age 29
Desire Blough - Age 2
Jennifer Blough - Age 28
Melvin Boring - Age 36
Elvie Bowser - Age 68
Jack F. Cale - Age 67
Eliza Ann Daroczy - Age 61
Cynthia Gibson - Age 8
Ernest Shawn Gibson - Age 12
Tammy Gibson - Age 30
Theresa Gibson - Age 46
Donald Merle Keiper - Age 54
Debra Ann Mavrich - Age 15
Carol Ann Pavlosky - Age 34
Helen Pilot - Age 59
Stanley Pilot Sr. - Age 63 - Still Missing
George Piskurich - Age 64
Olga Piskurich - Age 60
Katherine Rishell - Age 55
Kathy Rishell - Age 5
LIST OF VICTIMS:
Tanneryville
Thomas Rishell - Age 34
Theodore G. Rummel - Age 64
Barbara Selders - Age 40
Robert Selders - Age 42
Donna Sowerbrower - Age 16
Mark Sowerbrower Jr. - Age 4 months - Still Missing
Charles A. Stoner Jr. - Age 59
Louella Elizabeth Stoner - Age 57
Sharen Stoner - Age 24
Sheldon W. Stoner - Age 23
Dorothy Teeter - Age 50
Allen Thomas - Age 40
Pamela Thomas - Age 10
Patricia Thomas - Age 36
Sandra Thomas - Age 12
Edith Fern Weaver - Age 55
Kenneth Weaver - Age 73
Shirley Bailey - Age 41 - Still Missing
Melissa Mitchell - Age 10 - Still Missing
Windber
Andrew Koharchik Jr. - Age 46
Marguerite Koharchik - Age 46
Summerhill
Marlin B. Mervine - Age 63
-----------------------------------------
LIST OF VICTIMS:
Dilltown
Julia Kameliski - Age 70
Dunlo
Chad Allen Gdula - Age 6
Kathleen Gdula - Age 23
James E. Smith - Age 61
Mineral Point
Harry M. Teeter - Age 74
Lula Teeter - Age 70
Richland
Robert Casciotti - Age 24
George Ribich - Age 50
Milka Ribich - Age 74
John J. Rokosz - Age 24
Howard Wilson - Age 24
George Zidzik - Age 50
Scalp Level
Helen Zidzik - Age 62
Susan Zidzik - Age 33
Seward
Greg Allen Dixon - Age 9
Myrtle Leslie - Age 77
Pauline Long - Age 53
Thelma Ressler - Age 52
Larry Edward Ressler - Age 36
The dams that surround Johnstown, stretching throughout the Conemaugh Valley,
were unsuspecting accomplices in the Great Flood of 1977. They were duped by the
instigator - the rain.
When they failed, six dams poured more than 128
million gallons of water into the Conemaugh Valley. In comparison approximately
4.8 billion gallons were unleashed on Johnstown when the South Fork Dam burst in
1889.
A phenomenal amount of rainfall - 11.82 inches in 10 hours - was
too much for both the dams and the sewers in the Conemaugh Valley. The Corps of
Engineers originally called the ’77 flood a 500 year flood, but it’s been
downgraded slightly since then. The dams failed because of overtopping. The dams
that burst were:
Laurel Run Dam on Laurel Run. The aged old earthen dam
held 101 million gallons of water. It had a 42 foot high spillway. The dam was
owned by the Johnstown Water Authority. When it failed the water enveloped
Tanneryville and caused deaths and heavy property losses. The Laurel Run Dam was
built by Cambria or Bethlehem Steel, then sold to the Water Authority when it
was created.
Sandy Run Dam on Sandy Run. The dam held 18 million gallons
of water. It was owned by the Highland Water and Sewer Authority. The 63 year
old dam had a spillway of 28 feet
Salix Water Dam on Otto Run. It held 2
million gallons of water. Its spillway height was under 25 feet. It is owned by
the Adams Township Water Authority.
Cambria Slope Mine 33 on Sanders Run.
It held 7 million gallons of water. The dam leased by Bethlehem Mines Corp. had
a spillway of 32 feet
Unnamed Dam on Peggy’s Run, Franklin Borough. This
dam was leased by Bethlehem Mines Corp. and held an undetermined amount of water
at the time of the flood because it was used as a catch basin.
An unnamed
impoundment dam east of Johnstown at St. Michael held less than 1,000 gallons.
It was a reserve dam for Bethlehem Mines Corp.
The dams were simply
overwhelmed. After overtopping, water eroded the earthen embankments. There was
total failure of five dams. The sixth, Cambria Slope Mine 33, retained about
two-thirds of its contents.
The dams had not shown any defects in past
inspections and no trouble was reported in them by the Pennsylvania Dept. Of
Environmental Resources (DER).
Without the work of the Army Corp. of Engineers and the Flood Control Project. A lot of you reading this post right now - would be dead.....
On The Doorstep - Thomas Hardy
The rain imprinted the step's wet shine
With target-circles that quivered and crossed
As I was leaving this porch of mine;
When from within there swelled and paused
A song's sweet note;
And back I turned, and thought,
"Here I'll abide."
With target-circles that quivered and crossed
As I was leaving this porch of mine;
When from within there swelled and paused
A song's sweet note;
And back I turned, and thought,
"Here I'll abide."
The step shines wet beneath the rain,
Which prints its circles as heretofore;
I watch them from the porch again,
But no song-notes within the door
Now call to me
To shun the dripping lea
And forth I stride.
Which prints its circles as heretofore;
I watch them from the porch again,
But no song-notes within the door
Now call to me
To shun the dripping lea
And forth I stride.
26 comments:
If you did not live through the absence of resources like food and water or shovel away endless loads of flood mud, which I can still smell, or lose family, friends or neighbors then you at least understood the challenges of the survivors and respect the pain they carry without being a burden on others.
77' survivor from Kernville
I'll never forget hearing the news from Johnstown -- unbelievable -- Johnstown, the flood free city ... I was spared of losing any family or personal friends in this tragedy, but the horror lives on with all of us who grew up in Johnstown feeling safe from disasters such as this.
Rest in peace my home town friends ...
The Keck family, of Hornerstown, was visiting the trailer park in Seward, when the wave hit. Vincent Keck was married to Thelma Ressler's daughter. Larry Edward "Eddie" Ressler was 16, not 36.
I will never forget that night.
for jj.in phila. I wont forget that night either. Vince's mom called the trailer that night when the water was halfway up on the cars tires. She told everyone to come up to the house. She lived a short walking distance away.Her house was untouched.They answered that they were fine.When the water got deeper I was told everyone in the park was on the roofs of their trailers.Then the wall of water hit them.I lost eight of my family in an instant.My grandparents, my aunt,my cousin eddie,my cousin Kimberly her husband and their beautiful two children.I was just looking at all of their pictures this week. Still today this painful memory brings me to tears.
I turned 12 on July 16 and I must say it I will never forget that long night on the roof in my boxers not knowing if we would die that night hearing the buildings fall at coopersdale homes still is a sound never to forget .........
I was a classmate of Julie Luther in Homewood, AL, a suburb of Birmingham. Her mom was very sweet. I still recall Julie talking about the trip they were taking that summer, as well as hearing from my mom what happened. At that age, it was hard to understand, and they were both missed.
The Luther family is one of the sweetest in the world. Their son Jim is a great man and his mother would be so proud.
No disrespect but you forgot to list Mark maverich under his sister Debra from tanneryville. Mark was 13
My whole family is from Johnstown I remember this tragedy very well. Thank god all my family survived this horrible flood. My father visited his parents after the water receded took pictures unbelievable!!
My whole family is from Johnstown I remember this tragedy very well. Thank god all my family survived this horrible flood. My father visited his parents after the water receded took pictures unbelievable!!
My uncle Melvin Boring was in that flood. Tanneryville I remember that day clearly. So sad.
Hard to believe next July will be the fortieth anniversary of one of the most devastating floods in U.S. history. I'd forgotten the death toll had climbed to eighty. Despite efforts to rebuild, the mills finally closed and people moved away--but we never get far enough to not remember Johnstown, mostly pleasant memories.
This past week, I watched rains dump vast amounts of water on Baton Rouge. As terrible as the devastation was here, it can't compare to the '77 flood over Johnstown--even though the storm circled us just like it circled Johnstown almost forty years ago.
I remember Charles Stoner and his wife Louella along with his son Sheldon and his wife Sharen. They were customers of mine in the swimming pool business. Good hard working people. In the aftermath I could not believe that the “little creek” behind their home and business could sweep them all away and I did not know anyone to say how sorry I was about this tragedy. God Bless them.
Hello as I read all of the comments it brings me such sadness. I was born a little to late to remember this time. I was born on April 13 1979. I have been reading about the 1977 flood and it's bringing me such sadness in some other ways. I was told by my mother I was conceived during the cleaning up and rebuilding. Tho the dates are scaring me. The point is is I need help. I need anyone and everyone who knew of the names and crews whom came to help. Is there a james Leroy Kruse out there? That's the name I was given he is from Pittsburgh at least she days so. I do not have a relationship with my mother. She has told me many stories and I don't care about the circumstances of how I'm here I just need to know who I am. I'm getting married for the first time in August 2017. I would be ecstatic to ask my father to come and get to know me and my family. To all the lives lost God bless you and your families.
Hello as I read all of the comments it brings me such sadness. I was born a little to late to remember this time. I was born on April 13 1979. I have been reading about the 1977 flood and it's bringing me such sadness in some other ways. I was told by my mother I was conceived during the cleaning up and rebuilding. Tho the dates are scaring me. The point is is I need help. I need anyone and everyone who knew of the names and crews whom came to help. Is there a james Leroy Kruse out there? That's the name I was given he is from Pittsburgh at least she days so. I do not have a relationship with my mother. She has told me many stories and I don't care about the circumstances of how I'm here I just need to know who I am. I'm getting married for the first time in August 2017. I would be ecstatic to ask my father to come and get to know me and my family. To all the lives lost God bless you and your families.
I am 54 and was 13 during the flood. I went to school with Mark Maverich. The Gibsons were my cousins. The grew up in the west end and our house didn't even get water in the basement, however, my dad and I went into Tanneryville the morning after the flood looking for new on our cousins. We were told the water took their house out the night before. I can't begin to tell you how much damage the water caused nor the fear we had when we realized large drums were hitting the bridge we crossed getting in as far as we did. Over the next several weeks we volunteered to clean up mud messes, mainly the Catholic church of St Columba. Nothing can brace you of the smell and mud everywhere. Years later and I still have very vivid memories of the flood, they never go away.
I was only 4 years old at the time of the 77 Flood. My first hand accounts of the disaster are vague and hazy. My family lived on Langhorne Ave on the side of the hill in Southmont boro. We were relatively safe. Living on elevated land and away from bodies of water such as creeks and runs. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the intense lightning that lit up the night time landscape. The rain was relentless too. Later on that day, Langhorne Ave was a creek. I remember playing in the water and my mother yelling at me to get out. It was out of fear of being swept away, plus the water was dirty and polluted. I also heard neighbors advising others not to venture in the city because PA state police and the national guard had a very strong presence there to prevent looting and to assist in rescue and recovery. I'll be commenting more
My wife and I did go back to Johnstown this past Summer fior the 40th anniversary of the 1977 Flood. We first stopped in Windber at the Arcadia Theater. They had a special presentation of the 77 Flood from the Windber perspective. It was a collection of residents filming the aftermath of the destruction from the flood. They filmed it on 8mm cameras in an era before they had VHS camcorders. Nothing like the technology today. Windber area was one of the hardest hit in the 77 Flood. There were 5 people that lost their lives on that fateful night. The Koharchiks - Andrew and Marguerite (husband and wife) became trapped in the basement of the slavik club when the flood waters hit. In nearby Scalp Level, George Zidzik was coming to the rescue his mother and sister, Susan and Helen Zidzik. All three perished from the rapidly rising flood waters.
The Windbet presentation was excellent. Seeing film and photos of the 77 Flood that was never seen before. I even bought a copy of that presentation. George Kollar had a presentation of photos from Tanneryville on display at the Discovery Heritage Center. Tanneryville was the hardest hit area and accounted for almost half the death toll of the 77 Flood.
Tanneryville was decimated when the Laurel Run Dam collapsed on that fateful morning on July 20, 1977 at around 2:45am. According to eyewitness accounts the wall of water cascading down the narrow valley sounded like a roaring freight train. It acted like a giant bulldozer sweeping and flattening everything in it's path. Houses were ripped from their foundations and smashed. Cars, trucks, trees, boulders were tossed around like toys. 39 people lost their lives. Several families were wiped out or partially wiped out. The devastation to the West Taylor Township community was surreal and incomprehensible. The flood wave slammed into an already raging and swollen Conemaugh River. The flood wave split the river into. It had a back washing effect that inundated downtown Johnstown. It also sent a killer wave that destroyed the Hoover Trailer Park in Seward downstream killing almost a dozen people. The failure of the Laurel Run Dam was the coup de grace to the 1977 Johnstown. Today there are no physical remnants of the failured dam. The Laurel Run Park sits in its place. There is a private residence nearby that is presumably to have been built sometime after 1977.
There is a plaque at the West Taylor Volunteer Fire Company on Cooper Ave in Tanneryville to commemorate the 39 people who lost their lives on that fateful morning of July 20,1977. The plaque is attach to a boulder that was rolled downhill by the floodwaters when the Laurel Run Dam broke. My heart, thoughts and prayers goes out to the families who lost loved ones in that tragedy. The 1977 Johnstown Flood teaches us a sad and painful lesson. That tragedy can happen to anyone, anyplace at anytime. It reminds us how short and precious life is. We should always cherish life to the fullest and never take it for granted, because it can be taken away in a moments notice.
Mind boggling that people would laugh, joke, and be nasty regarding this tragedy.
I suppose they found hilarious all the people who died in Katrina, as well the elderly people who died in that Florida nursing home due to Hurricane Irma. Perhaps the lives destroyed in the Caribbean last summer really rocked their socks.
Sorry statement on mankind. Makes one wonder if they will be our next school shooters.
The storm system that produced the 1977 Johnstown Flood originated over South Dakota 96 hours earlier. It traversed its way across the Great Lakes then made a Southwestward dip across Pennsylvania. The storm system intensified and took on tropical characteristics as it became wedged between a warm unstable air mass to the west and a dome of cooler, drier air to the east. This type of storm system is known as a Mesoscale Convection Complex (MCC for short). They're common in the late Spring and Summer months. This system remained nearly stationary over the Southern half of Cambria County and far Northern Somerset County with Johnstown almost in the middle.
The storm system acted like a conveyor belt producing one thunderstorm after another and dumping its deadly and destructive cargo of monsoon like rains over the Greater Johnstown area over and over again for several hours. This phenomenon by meteorologist is called "training" where thunderstorms follow almost identical paths over the same area. Areas to the North and East of Johnstown got socked with almost a foot of rain. The Johnstown Airport in Richland Township recorded 11.87 inches of rain while Downtown Johnstown recorded 8 inches. The steep ridges and narrow valleys that surrounded the city acted as amplifiers that intensified the flooding, not to mention being built on a flood plain added insult to injury.
Johnstown has a lot of small creeks known as runs that dart in and around the city. On the night of July 19-20. These small, tranquil bodies of water became raging killers. The names of Solomon, Sam's Sandy, Laurel, Clapboard, Peggy's, Elk and St. Clair Runs would be etched in people's minds for decades to come. It also caused six area dams to fall most notably the Laurel Ram Dam above Tanneryville that killed 39 people and nearly wiped that small, West Taylor Township community off the map.
In the end the 1977 Johnstown Flood caused $350 million in damage(that's about $1.5 billion in today's economy) and claimed 85 lives with 8 missing. in the aftermath of the flood, countless individuals, community leaders, local businesses, private charities and state and federal governments worked tirelessly to get the city and surrounding areas on it's feet again. In spite of their best efforts, Johnstown never fully recovered not was it the same again. Things got worse for the city in the years ahead. By 1983 it had the worst unemployment rate in the nation at the time. Economic depression levels at a staggering 25%.
Before the 1977 Flood, Johnstown had a population of 41,000. By 1980 it's population had dropped to 35,000. Now in 2018 has an estimated population of 20,000. A 52% drop in population since the late 1970's and the 1977 Flood acted as a catalyst for it.
I was born and raised in Johnstown and was 24 when the 1977 flood hit. I was living in Pittsburgh with my husband at that time. We drove to Johnstown with food, water, and supplies for my family and our neighbors who lived in Cambria City and could not believe the damage. We were only able to drive within 2 blocks of our family home and had to walk the rest of the way in mud up to our ankles. Thankfully my family and neighbors survived, although the homes were heavily damaged. My husband and I came every weekend until winter to help my mom and dad try to put the house back together. I feel horrible for all the people who lost their lives. It is a time I will never forget. God bless everyone in my hometown, those still alive, those who passed during the flood and those who've passed in the years since then.
Growing up I heard a story that an Army National Guard solider found a family in a blue vw bug. It was during the clean up of the flood. There was 2 adults and 2 very young children. One infant size and the other toddler size. Does this sound like anyone you may have known? I've looked over the victim list and the youngest victims have reported still missing. If that's so, who did my father fid in a blue vw bug?
Hmmmm....To me it sounds like the Keck family from Hornerstown, but they were all killed at the Hoover Trailer Park in Seward. What part of town did the National Guardsmen find them? If it wasn't them, then it would confirm my suspicion that the death toll in the 1977 flood maybe higher than the official figure at 85. For instance, Lowry Ressler of Seward was killed in flood, but was oddly omitted from the record books. He was killed along with his wife Thelma, his son Larry "Eddie" and daughter Kimberely Keck. There's a website called Find A Grave that lists most of the 1977 Johnstown Flood Victims and that's how I came across Lowry Ressler's name.
....as September begins to end and I have to anticipate the fall I think of how next year will be the forty fifth anniversary !
-andrew
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