Johnstown flood how many people died

As The Vintage News notes, after tearing through the town and causing incredible destruction, the water was again stopped by debris at Stone Bridge. The water had brought an incredible mass of trees, animals, structures, and other stuff to the bridge, leading to a pile of debris estimated to cover about 30 acres and be as high as 70 feet. Part of the bridge collapsed, but most of the structure held, again forming a makeshift dam.

The Tribune-Democrat reports that many people believe this spared communities downriver from Johnstown from a similarly horrifying fate. That bit of mercy came at a terrible price for the people of Johnstown, however. The deadly flow of water didn't just stop and go calm at Stone Bridge. It crashed into the barrier and went hurtling back toward Johnstown like a boomerang.

The townsfolk who had just survived a terrifyingly powerful flood were just emerging from the wreckage when the water came flooding back — from the other direction. One of the most horrifying details of the Johnstown Flood is the fact that not all of the 2, people who perished that day died in the flood itself.

About 80 people actually burned to death. As the raging waters tore down the river valley moving at speeds as fast as miles per hour at times, everything in its path was torn up and carried along. Buildings, livestock, barbed wire, vehicles — all were carried with terrifying force downriver. As The Vintage News reports, when the flood hit the Stone Bridge about 11 miles past Johnstown, that debris piled up and formed a dam of sorts.

Something inflammable must have been carried along in the debris, because it soon burst into flame, engulfing the bridge in fire.

Tragically, as The Tribune-Democrat reports, many people had been carried by the flood to the bridge, and some had survived the journey only to find themselves trapped in the wreckage. When the fire broke out, these poor people were not able to escape. They had survived the worst flood in recent history and the total destruction of their homes, only to die in one of the most horrible ways imaginable. The fire continued to burn for three days.

The chaos of the Johnstown Flood can't be overstated. For the people downriver from the South Fork Dam, the flood came without warning and was unprecedented in its force and speed. As anyone who has ever experienced a flood knows, water flows in unexpected ways, and there were no satellites, Internet, or airplanes in That all combined to make finding the bodies of victims a real challenge.

It was immediately apparent to everyone that thousands of people were dead and that many of the bodies were buried under the wreckage. But as the Johnstown Area Historical Association notes, the survivors first focused on the living people who were trapped in collapsed buildings and other spaces spared by the water.

But when trains were finally able to get close to the town, the first items delivered were coffins. The process of locating the bodies of the victims wasn't easy. Most were entombed under debris which had piled up as high as 70 feet in places, the water had scattered victims far and wide, and many corpses were spotted floating down the river. As reported by the Delaware County Daily Times , bodies were eventually found as far away as Cincinnati, Ohio, which is miles away — and as late as , more than two decades after the event.

The work to find survivors and rebuild began almost immediately after the waters subsided. So did the grim work of recovering the bodies of the dead. Locating the bodies was a challenge. University of Pittsburgh scientists have used ground-penetrating radar and computers to analyze the dam site and the volume and speed of floodwaters that hit Johnstown at p. Richard Burkert, president of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, says the research suggests that the dam "was in much poorer shape" than previously known.

It also suggests that the dam had been designed with two spillways to handle periods of heavy rain, but only one was in use. It was brought by human failure, human shortsightedness and selfishness," he said in a interview. The fear of big floods remains. University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown professor Paul Douglas Newman describes the city as a giant drain that sits at the bottom of several watersheds, all prone to flooding.

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Print Subscriptions. Deseret News homepage. Filed under: U. Reddit Pocket Email Linkedin. The dam was part of an extensive canal system that became obsolete as the railroads replaced the canal as a means of transporting goods. As the canal system fell into disuse, maintenance on the dam was neglected. In , Johnstown was home to 30, people, many of whom worked in the steel industry. On May 31, the residents were unaware of the danger that steady rain over the course of the previous day had caused.

A spillway at the dam became clogged with debris that could not be dislodged. An engineer at the dam saw warning signs of an impending disaster and rode a horse to the village of South Fork to warn the residents.

However, the telegraph lines were down and the warning did not reach Johnstown. At p. All of the water from Lake Conemaugh rushed forward at 40 miles per hour, sweeping away everything in its path.

People in the path of the rushing flood waters were often crushed as their homes and other structures were swept away. Thirty-three train engines were pulled into the raging waters, creating more hazards. Some people in Johnstown were able to make it to the top floors of the few tall buildings in town. However, whirlpools brought down many of these taller buildings.

Grafius Run, a small stream through the city, had begun to subside. Residents were not concerned about more flooding because the river had not yet risen to an alarming height.

But "the water kept getting higher and higher. When it was over, "loss of life had been heavy. A reporter for the Philadelphia Times telegraphed this, "The loss is awful. There have not been many buildings in the town carried off, but there are few that have not been damaged.

There is mourning everywhere for the dead. The mayor sent this message, "Send us help at once, in the name of God, at once. There are hundreds utterly destitute. They have lost all they had, and have no hope of employment for the future. Philadelphia should, if possible, send provisions. Such a thing as a chicken is unknown here; they were all carried off.

It is hard to get anything to eat for love or money. Flour is needed worse than anything else. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important.