OT: Agnes Flood June 23, 1972

[Tom McAndrew]

Agnes was a record-setting rainstorm in Pa. Fifty years later, the memories and anxieties persist.

Agnes' rains have not been matched since, but officials say it's just a matter of time before they are again.

www.inquirer.com

 

[manatree]

I had a roommate from Sunbury, where the wall miraculously held back the river. Army Corps of Engineers built the wall in the 1930s. Wall was only supposed to hold back water long enough for town to evacuate.

I grew up in Sunbury, but being born in January of ‘72, I have no memories of it. My family moved in with friends up in the hill section of town and my dad volunteered with many others sandbagging lower areas around town. The river wall and earthen dikes surrounding the town were built in the 1950s. It was the 1936 St. Patrick’s Day flood that was the impetus to build the walls and dikes. Being at the confluence of the North & West Branches Sunbury was always vulnerable to flooding, especially with Blue Hill on the other side of the river forcing it all into Sunbury.

The first photo is from the 1936 flood, showing Market Street. The second photo showing the river cresting in 1972.

If all of the flood mitigation that have been built in the last 50 years for towns north of Sunbury had existed back in 1972, the river wall and dikes would have been easily breeched.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

A friend of mine lost his dad, a Philly cop, in it…extremely sad story. Just 44 years old with four kids and died trying to rescue people in the Schuylkill during it.

yeah, that was a tough one, as he and his partner were rescuing two women that were caught in the Schuylkill. They rescued the women, but as they were getting them on the bank (well, the new bank as the river was up over its normal bank), your friend's father somehow got swept downstream.

A plaque honoring your friend's father was placed along Boathouse Row in Philadelphia (sponsored by the Philadelphia Eagles) around 15 years ago.

 

[Rick76]

I was a young officer on a ship off the coast of Vietnam when the flood happened. One of the guys in my division was from Kingston (across the river from Wilkes-Barre). His family home was underwater. We took up a collection among our shipmates and collected $600 to help out his family. I sent the money to my father (a Luzerne County judge and a retired Commander in the Navy Reserve who had been CO of a minesweeper in the Pacific during WWII). Somehow he made it over to Kingston and gave the money to our shipmate's family. They were grateful.

My wife's grandmother's home in South Wilkes-Barre had six feet of water in the second floor. Her aunt's house in Forty Fort had similar water damage. She spent most of the summer helping to clean out those homes.

My wife's family lived in Shavertown (near Dallas), so they had no flood danger. Father in law worked for the phone company at the facility on South Main St in Wilkes-Barre. He was gone for about a week helping to keep phone lines open. (No cell phones in those days).

After the flood, lots of people moved out of the towns in the Wyoming Valley up to Mountaintop and Dallas/Lehman Township.

 

[MacNit]

I was three years old and recall looking out from the top of a nearby commmunity. I saw nothing but water everywhere. Does anyone have any stories to share? I would love to hear them...

Was 7 years old at the time and remember sitting in my grandparents home watching news telecasts of boats navigating the streets of downtown Pittsburgh.

We lived in high elevations and were relatively unaffected, so I had no grasp of the destruction and devastation as a young kid.

Markers on many buildings in Pittsburgh show the high water marks.

 

[dcf4psu]

I was 10 and lived in Williamsport at the time. My oldest brother and I walked about two miles to the dike near the Market Street bridge. I'm thinking this was the 23rd of June since the river was at around 20 feet or so and rising. When the river crested it was probably no more then two feet from the top of the dike. Here's an interesting video from YouTube (in case it wasn't already posted) of someone's home movies of the flood and life as it was in 1972:

 

[Nitt1300]

I graduated from Penn State in June, 1972. I had gone home to eastern PA the week before graduation and could not make it back to campus because of the flooding. So, I am the proud recipient of a "mail order" diploma from PSU. Fifty years later, I still regret that my parents were denied the opportunity to see me graduate.

A week or so later, my soon-to-be-bride and I drove along the Schuylkill near Pottstown and could see the water marks on the walls of old farmhouses near the river bank. In some cases the water was higher than the first floor windows. IIRC there were oil storage lagoons along the river that flooded. It was a mess.

likewise- although I went to the Shields building to pick my diploma up- they were stacked by the thousands because many of us couldn't get there

 

[Bones80]

Was 14 at the time. Lived in south Wilkes-Barre in a double block house with my grandfather next door. Moved some furniture upstairs. Ended up with 5 feet of water on second floor. Complete loss. House was condemned after we tried to clean it and scavenge for items. Lost everything except what we were wearing when we evacuated. Lived in a trailer suppled by government for a year until we rebuilt a place in the back mountains with a SBA loan. Switched from Meyers HS to Dallas HS for my last 3 years before PSU. Father ended up losing his job with the railroad when they went bankrupt after the flood.

 

[Nothing Special]

I was 7 years old and we lived in MIddletown, in the Pineford Village Apts. The Swatara Creek ran just south of the apartment complex. In 1972, there was just woods between the apartment complex and the creek (a warehouse is there now). If you look on a google map, you will see an apartment building called The Lynwood Building. We lived in that building. The water from the Creek came up to the parking area just to the south of our building, probably 20 feet from our front door. I distinctly remember someone's Plymouth Roadrunner (with the wing) being submerged in the water. I loved that car.

Somehow, my dad found out that there was some empy apartments in the high rise building that was being constructed up on Pineford Road. We were on the 5th or 6th floor of that building for a couple of days. It was like camping for me and my (then) 3 year old brother.

I was 11. I lived on the other side of Middletown relatively close to the airport (Shope Gardens). My grandparents lived in Lisa Lake. I remember riding bike to my best friend's house. He lived right across from the old Tinian Manor Swim Club. Very close, there was a hill that overlooked a little league field. The field was completely under and the water was cresting at the middle of the hill. It was days before we could get to my grandparents. I remember my grandfather saying he watched the catfish jumping from his front porch. They lost 2 cars in the flood.

 

[MontereyLion]

At the time Agnes struck I was living in Phoenixville. We got 12 inches of rain in 12 hours. The main road between Phoenixville and King of Prussia through Valley Forge, where my girl friend at the time lived, was under water. We were without drinking water for 3 days. Went down to the creek with a bucket to bring water back to flush the toilet. Drove the back roads to get to my girl friends house to take showers. Seven months later I was enrolled at Penn State.