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Facts About the Flood
2,209 people died, 1 out of every 10 living in the various neighborhoods affected by the flood.
The destruction of downtown Johnstown took less than 10 minutes, according to a young survivor of the flood, Victor Heiser, who happened to check his pocketwatch.
99 entire families were lost.
396 children under the age of 10 died, and 568 children lost one or both parents.
124 women and 198 men were widowed.
Bodies were found as far away as Cincinnati, Ohio and as late as 1906.
1,600 homes and 280 businesses were destroyed.
Because of the heavy rains, the dam contained 20,000,000 tons of water before it broke. This is equivalent to the volume of water that goes over Niagara Falls in 36 minutes.
Flood lines were found as high as 89 feet above river level, and the crest of the wave was 37 feet high when it entered the downtown part of the city.
Th force of the flood swept several locomotives weighing 170,000 lbs. as far as 4,800 feet.
4 square miles of downtown Johnstown were completely destroyed.
The deep pile of debris at the Stone Bridge covered 30 acres.
12 books were written about the flood within six months.
A total of $3,742,818.78 was collected for the Johnstown relief effort from the United States and 16 foreign countries. |