![]() Webster defines the word as “a course of violent, riotous, or reckless action or behavior.” Never has the usually placid Juniata River and her tributaries gone on a more unforgettable rampage than during the last week of June 1972. Here are excerpts from our 1972 reporting, a poignant reminder of the early hours, and eventual wrath, of the storm that cannot be forgotten: ![]() Newspapers, they say, write the first draft of history - and this topic is one reported in our pages time and again. It is a defining moment, one that dominates our memories. We think of life before the flood and after. There’s another recurrent theme to the floods that changed our lives - 1889, 19 - and that’s the moment in time they represent in our history. Each of them had three things in common: An element of surprise, a wake of destruction, and a recovery fueled by those who do not so much deny Mother Nature as respect her, and eventually restore the communities we call home. It is one of three major floods to strike the Juniata Valley in a span of less than a century. Pennsylvania sustained $2 billion in damage 50 Keystone State residents perished in the flood.įlood damage caused by tropical storm Agnes was estimated in excess of $75,000,000 in the Juniata Valley alone. There will never be another Agnes - literally, as it is one of five storm names retired by the National Weather Service due to their severity.ĭuring the storm, Agnes dropped 12 inches of rain in Lewistown, and the Juniata River rose to 42.1 feet - more than 19 feet above flood stage. And the damage she wrought to this area - the worst of any community in any state that saw Agnes’ strength and fury - is still significant in our collective memories. ![]() Two days later, the destruction of the brutal storm was at its peak.Īgnes took us by surprise not because we were unaware of her, but from the unusual and unexpected weather pattern that brought her to us. Rain was predicted by the National Weather Service that week, but flooding was only anticipated in the far reaches of Western Pennsylvania.Īgnes, a hurricane that had been downgraded to tropical storm status, didn’t read the forecast.
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