As you might imagine, floods continue to be a major concern for Johnstown, PA. This town has unfortunately had more major floods in later years, which included 1894, 1907, and 1924. Unbelievably the most recognizable flood in the first part of the 20th century occurred on St. Patrick’s Day March 1936, which also reached Pittsburgh. This flood soon became known as the Great Pittsburgh Flood of 1936 and left everyone speachless.

On July 19, 1977 in the night, a very strong storm that was a creepy reminder of the 1889 storm pounded the watershed area above Johnstown and the nearby rivers began to swell. As you’d imagine, by morning Johnstown was subjected to water levels that were as high as 8 feet. There were seven counties that were affected by this disaster and in total they sustained approximately $200 million in damages and 80 people died.

Far above Johnstown, PA was the South Fork Dam which was built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania between 1838 and 1853. This was part of a cross-state canal system that was aptly named the Main Line of Public Works. The town of Johnstown was the located at the eastern end of the Western Division Canal and behind the dam was the reservoir fed by Lake Conemaugh. During this time period railroads began to take the pace of canal barge transport and accordingly the canal was abandoned by the Commonwealth. The canal was later sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad who in turn sold the dam and lake to private investors.

The Johnstown Flood took place on May 31, 1889 and was the result of a catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam. It was also known as the Great Flood of 1889 to the local population. The dam was located approximately 14 miles upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The dam’s condition was made worse due to several days of extremely heavy rainfall that pushed the dam to its limits. When the dam failed it unleashed over 20 million tons of water that killed over 2,200 people and caused approximately $17 million dollars of damage. This was also the first major disaster relief effort that the newly found American Red Cross handled. There was support for the victims from all over the United States along with 18 foreign countries that also helped out. When the flood had finished the flood victims also suffered many legal issues when trying to recover any damages from the dam’s owners.