Eyewitness 1936: St. Patrick's flood gave rare view of Penn Avenue
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Downtown, seen from Mt. Washington, March 17, 1936
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(See also Len Barcousky's March 17 PG story "The Historic St. Patrick's Day Flood of 1936: Two Eyewitness Accounts" and a PG slideshow of historic photos.
Politics and crime dominated the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on March 17, 1936. The only weather-related story on the cover was a brief item describing rising rivers in the Susquehanna Valley around Harrisburg.
The local situation changed dramatically early on St. Patrick's Day as the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers rose simultaneously. The rushing water flooded streets in Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle and in dozens of other communities in Allegheny and surrounding counties.
The Great St. Patrick's Day Flood was the deadliest and most expensive in local history, claiming more than 150 lives.
The Pittsburgh Press, which had a mid-afternoon final deadline, ran a banner headline warning "DOWNTOWN FACES FLOOD PERIL" as rivers rose to 34 feet by 2 p.m. -- 9 feet above flood stage -- and still were rising 6 inches per hour.
PG VIDEO: 1936 PITTSBURGH FLOODThe Wednesday, March 18, Post-Gazette predicted a 37-foot river crest, an estimate that proved optimistic.
"Pittsburgh was virtually isolated today by the worst flood in modern history," The Pittsburgh Press reported that afternoon.
The main art on the newspaper's front page illustrated the multiple dangers resulting from the disaster. The photo showed two firefighters, standing waist deep in icy, debris-filled water. They were directing a high-pressure hose onto a blaze that did $100,000 worth of damage at a Crucible Steel Co. warehouse on the city's North Side. That number translates into about $1.5 million in modern currency.
"Pittsburgh firemen seldom have been called upon to work under worse conditions," the accompanying story said. "The water stood four feet deep ... Driftwood, huge empty steel drums, and anything else the rising river could pick up, swirled through the streets."
First Published March 20, 2011 12:00 am
