Qualla: Johnstown Flood https://qualla.com/johnstown-flood en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/v/johnstown-flood-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Johnstown Flood https://qualla.com/johnstown-flood Johnstown Flood: Introduction https://qualla.com/johnstown-flood/ Photo credit Kwak2, CC BY-SA 4.0. The locomotive engineer John Hess heard the rumbling before he saw it. From his idle engine in Johnstown's railyard, he threw the throttle into reverse and raced backward toward East Conemaugh, whistle screaming. His warning saved dozens. But for most of the 30,000 residents of this steel town wedged into the narrow Conemaugh Valley, the first sign of the flood was the flood itself -- a wall of water, debris, and twisted steel traveling at highway speed, reaching 60 feet high in places. Fifty-seven minutes after the South Fork Dam burst on May 31, 1889, Johnstown was gone. The death toll reached 2,208. The dam had failed because a group of Pittsburgh millionaires -- members of the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, whose ranks included Henry Clay Frick and associates of Andrew Carnegie -- had wanted a private lake and could not be bothered to maintain the dam that held it.

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/v/johnstown-flood-wp/dppv-johnstown-flood-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Johnstown Flood: A Rich Man's Fishing Hole https://qualla.com/johnstown-flood/ Photo credit Kwak2, CC BY-SA 4.0. Johnstown was founded in 1800 by Swiss immigrant Joseph Johns at the confluence of the Stonycreek and Little Conemaugh rivers. By 1889, the Cambria Iron Works and the Pennsylvania Railroad had turned it into a thriving steel community of 30,000, mostly Welsh and German immigrants...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/v/johnstown-flood-wp/dppv-johnstown-flood-a-rich-mans-fishing-hole.mp3 0:06 2 full Johnstown Flood: Fourteen Miles in Fifty-Seven Minutes https://qualla.com/johnstown-flood/ Photo credit Kwak2, CC BY-SA 4.0. On May 28, 1889, a low-pressure system that had formed over Kansas arrived in western Pennsylvania carrying what the U.S. Army Signal Corps called the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the region. Lake Conemaugh rose eight feet in a day. Between 2:50 and 2:55 PM on May 31, the d...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/v/johnstown-flood-wp/dppv-johnstown-flood-fourteen-miles-in-fifty-seven-minutes.mp3 0:06 3 full Johnstown Flood: Fire on the Water https://qualla.com/johnstown-flood/ Photo credit Mrsports182, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Stone Bridge, a massive arched railroad structure spanning the Conemaugh River in the center of Johnstown, became the focal point of a second catastrophe. Debris carried by the flood -- twisted steel rails, boxcars, entire buildings, and victims' bodies -- piled against the b...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/v/johnstown-flood-wp/dppv-johnstown-flood-fire-on-the-water.mp3 0:06 4 full Johnstown Flood: The Unpunished https://qualla.com/johnstown-flood/ Photo credit William Creswell from Bremerton, Washington, USA, Public domain. The disaster killed 2,208 people, destroyed 1,600 homes, and caused $17 million in property damage -- roughly $550 million in today's dollars. Ninety-nine entire families were wiped out. Clara Barton and the American Red Cross mounted a major relief effort with support from eight...

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Image: William Creswell from Bremerton, Washington, USA | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/v/johnstown-flood-wp/dppv-johnstown-flood-the-unpunished.mp3 0:06 5 full Johnstown Flood: The Valley That Would Not Quit https://qualla.com/johnstown-flood/ Photo credit Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0. Johnstown rebuilt. The town flooded again in 1936 and again in 1977, earning it the grim nickname 'Flood City.' But the community endured. The Johnstown Flood National Memorial, established in 1964, preserves the site of the South Fork Dam and tells the story of the disaster. The...

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Image: Chris Light | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/v/johnstown-flood-wp/dppv-johnstown-flood-the-valley-that-would-not-quit.mp3 0:06 6 full