The Great Flood of 1889
- Beth Burkley
- Jul 3
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 7
Given that our family roots are in Pennsylvania (both William Paul and Florence were born in Blairsville), here's an interesting video on the Johnstown flood of 1889. It devastated the area and impacted Blairsville. The river would go on to flood in 1936 and 1977 but the 1889 flood was the worst natural disaster our country had known for a very long time.
Here are the statistics from the flood, and check out the video:
2,208 people died (Click here for a PDF list of flood victims, including their addresses, ages and burial places.)
99 entire families died, including 396 children
124 women and 198 men were left widowed
More than 750 victims were never identified and rest in the Plot of the Unknown in Grandview Cemetery
Bodies were found as far away as Cincinnati, and as late as 1911
1,600 homes were destroyed
$17 million in property damage was done
Four square miles of downtown Johnstown were completely destroyed
The pile of debris at the stone bridge covered 30 acres
The distance between the dam that failed and Johnstown was 14 miles
The dam was owned by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, an exclusive club that counted Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick among its members
The dam contained 20 million tons of water before it gave way, about the same amount of water as goes over Niagara Falls in 36 minutes
Flood lines were found as high as 89 feet above river level
The great wave measured 35-40 feet high and hit Johnstown at 40 miles per hour
The force of the flood swept several locomotives weighing 170,000 pounds as far as 4,800 feet
$3,742,818.78 was collected for the Johnstown relief effort from within the U.S. and 18 foreign countries
The American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton and organized in 1881, arrived in Johnstown on June 5, 1889 – it was the first major peacetime disaster relief effort for the Red Cross
Johnstown has suffered additional significant floods in its history, including in 1936 and 1977
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