Johnstown Flood Of 1889: A Terrible Natural Disaster

May 31, 1889 was a day that brought terror to the small town of Johnstown Pennsylvania. The small town was established in 1794 as a steel town and had a population on 30,000. The cause of the flood actually starts not at the town but 14 upstream at the South Fork Dam were the Little Conemaugh and Stony Creeks rivers meet as you can see in the image below. At this place is Lake Conemaugh, a 3-mile long lake located up against the side of a mountain, 450 feet higher than Johnstown PA. The construction started in 1840 under the supervision of engineer William E. Morris but wasn't completed till 1852 due to financial difficulties. (Johnstown Historical Society)

However, the dams were of faulty construction. Dam number one which caused the flooding was constructed of coarse mining refuse that Pittston had dumped into the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek starting in 1968. This dam failed first on the heels of heavy rains. The water from Dam number three then took out dams number two and then number one. Dam number three had simply

The topsoil dried up. Crops were destroyed as the horrified farmers watched. U-S-History.com says how “The water levels of lakes dropped by five feet or more.” Since the farmers plowed all the plains years earlier, all that there was left was dry, loose, dirt.

At 7:45 AM, as the men were doing repair work, water started to flow down the valley. Multiple lives could potentially have been saved if residents of the Buffalo Hallow were informed of the potential disaster and magnitude of its occurrence. The Pittston Coal Company ignored warnings from all major government departments like the mining bureau, the National Guard, the State Police, and even the local sheriff’s office. At 7:59 AM, the dam officially collapsed and lead to major blasts as boiling yellow suffer coal deposits came in contact with rushing water from the stream. At 8:01 AM, a huge outburst of 130 million gallons of water stream swept away the whole Buffalo Creek and drifted along all the coal manufacturing waste with it. This tragedy claimed 123 lives, injured 1000 and also left 4000 people homeless. Alongside these statistics, the disaster left countless scars on the survivors and the citizens of West Virginia. In an attempt to absolve The Pittson Coal Company from any legal responsibility, company officials insisted the flood was “an act of God”. They argued that there absolutely nothing with the dam expect that it

The flood happen early March of 1867, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It rained for four days non-stop the waters roto 56 feet tall that is taller than CSAS. The north had just won the Civil War. Slavery had just ended. Chattanoogans were being very self-reliant because they didn't want to ask they north for help because they just won the Civil War.

|collapsed in the Buffalo Creek Valley. Over 130 million gallons of water and waste material devastated Buffalo Creek's sixteen |

Streams formed that had never been there before, and rivers in the surrounding area rose more than a foot per hour. Johnstown had water in its streets, which was nothing new to them, but this time it was different. There was an air of fear around them. Surrounding railroad tracks were washed out throughout the day as the storm progressed. Eventually, nothing could move east or west, and all trains were stopped. Overnight, people at the club upriver noticed that the lake rose two feet over night. The spillway definitely couldn’t handle more water. Debris accumulated around the “innovative” fish screens that were put in place to make fishing easy and leisurely for the wealthy. The damns engineer left at 11:30 in hops of getting a message to Johnstown. In addition, a crew gathered in an effort to free spillway and raise the top of the

The effects of the Buffalo Creek were massive. Most of the homes were damaged and demolished. There was millions in property damage to be paid. Approximately 500 houses and 40 mobile homes were completely wiped away by the flood and about 950 houses and mobile homes were damaged. The whole area was like one big pool, the water washing the homes down shore. Property damage totaled to an estimate of $50 million. It was almost like one side of the houses of the creek were more safe, as the water rushed down stream it would wash away the houses on the right side of the creek as the creek curved to the left, it would then take the houses on the left side further down when the next curve was to the right. The cleaning up process of this disaster took a very long time, since there was so much debris from the homes and cars it made it a lot more tedious work. It can only be imagined how much this disaster effected the people of this community. Approximately 120 people died, among those were 3 babies, over 4,000 were to be homeless, and 7 people were to never be found. Not only did this flood affect people physically, but also mental, psychologically, and finically. Local schools had been opened up as a center for people with no homes, also people were put into mobile homes. What was not put into consideration was their former neighborhood. People that they have been living

When a huge storm caused the Missouri River to overflow in 1993, its water swept through Hardin. Water swept through Hardin,destroying homes and other buildings. Then something terrible happened that the town would never be the same: the dead rose up from the cemetery. It destroyed homes and buildings, and unearthing nearly 600 coffins from the local cemetery. As storm after storm pummeled the Midwestern United States, rivers began to overflow their banks. Throughout the summer, floodwater destroyed homes and businesses, and roads and bridges were washed away. The flooding didn’t and unit fall, and by then, more 20 million acres of land. Fifty people had died, and 55,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

It rained for a whole week straight none stop. It even had as much water as in the Mississippi river at the time. It caused a lot of damage through the flood costing the U.S 17 million dollars just to fix the damages that happened with the flood. The American Red Cross team had to step in help with the damages done by this flood. No one knew why it was raining for a whole week straight.

The Johnstown flood, of May 31st 1889, is a devastating part of American history that forever changed the lives of thousands of people. Before the destructive flood more than 30,000 people lived in Johnstown and surrounding towns. The main industries of the time were the Pennsylvania Railroad and Cambria Iron Works, who also supplied houses that were often times built just at the edge of the Conemaugh River, which ran through Johnstown.

San Antonio's population began to rise past 50,000. In November 1902, the rain period began which lead to the large flood waters. The flooding caused a lot of damage to homes and businesses and water reached a depth of two and half feet on St. Mary's Street. The only rail system still able to provide regular service was the San Antonio, Uvalde, and Gulf coast which did not serve flood-stricken areas. In December 1913, an estimate of 177 deaths were caused by the flooding and the damage cost 8.5 million throughout the South and Central Texas. Despite the tragedies, San Antonio began to utilize their river by including it in their spring

The earthquake was not the only hazard to damage the area of Lost River Ranger. Hazards such as rockfalls and landslides. As a result of water fountain and sand boils fluctuated and raised the water table making

A river of mud traveled down the mountain, caused by melted snow and released groundwater, destroying about two hundred houses, and ruined the beautiful lakes and creeks in the area.

This policy is applied where areas where a high risk is applicable to many people due to environmental changes or social implementations to put in sustainability phase watching technical viability and economic justification.