The 1936 Flood Remembered

March 2011 marks the 75th anniversary of one of the most talked about events of the Twentieth Century in Pennsylvania. Much has been said about the March 17, 1936 Saint Patrick’s Day Flood and the harrowing experiences shared by local townspeople. However, some may not realize that the aftermath of this deluge resulted in many social changes that affected the daily lives of those living in Pennsylvania for years to come.

Meteorologists consider the 1936 Flood as the worst natural disaster in our commonwealth’s history. Sixteen states were affected; nonetheless, Pennsylvania felt the brunt of it and over 100 died in the Keystone State. The total property damage from this storm is difficult to calculate. In Tyrone alone, the cost was set at two million dollars (about 33 million in 2010 dollars).

Hundreds of towns were completely isolated from washed out tracks and roads. Cities went without drinking water for over a week. Food was scarce and thousands went hungry or rationed what little was available.

Congress responded to the devastation by overwhelmingly passing into law the Flood Control Act of 1936. This was the first time in history the Federal Government became involved in the protection of people and property from natural disasters.

Resulting from the new legislation were funds for dams and reservoirs across the state. Previously, many towns took their water directly from rivers. With thousands of miles of interurban trolley lines destroyed, never to be replaced, buses became the norm. People were faced with the need for their first car in the midst of the Great Depression. And municipalities began looking at rivers and streams as a potential threat and now had to consider “flood control” in civic planning.

Although the Saint Patrick’s Day Flood was in many ways our own great personal tragedy, the country as a whole benefited from the government’s swift response and realization that all citizens share a common responsibility in helping others through difficult times. Iron signs were displayed in buildings throughout the region to commemorate the 1936 Saint Patrick’s Day Flood. Waters reached as much as sixteen feet some places in Tyrone. Logs from the paper mill left Herald Street Bridge in a mangled ruin in the Bald Eagle Creek. This bridge would not be rebuilt.