SUN-GAZETTE ARCHIVES Youngsters row through intersection near Maple Hill school sinks in Allenwood area.

Those who were there 50 years ago as Tropical Storm Agnes caused unprecedented flooding recalled vivid imagery, life-saving sandbagging and rescue efforts that will forever be cemented in their minds.

Christine Weigle was a young girl in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when her family, aware of Agnes coming up the East Coast in June 1972, decided to drive to a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Today, Weigle is executive director of the Lycoming County Water and Sewer Authority.

Little did she know back then she would have a job overseeing the management of water and sanitary waste in a county with a city that was spared due to a flood levee and communities up and downstream along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River without such protection that were inundated by flood water.

“We went to a friend’s house in West Moreland County outside of Pittsburgh,” Weigle recalled.

“I remember seeing the water rising so fast,” she said.

What became the wettest tropical cyclone in history swept up the East Coast, causing massive flooding from western Pennsylvania, to Williamsport and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“I am glad we have not seen anything like this since,” Weigle said of the amount of damage, although there have been devastating floods, such as in January 1996 and more recently in 2011 with Tropical Storm Lee.

Agnes, however, caused more than $2 billion in damage in Pennsylvania — including 68,000 homes either sustaining major losses or completely gone and 3,000 businesses destroyed.

Overall, 48 deaths were reported ­– more than in any other state.

Sadly, downstream in Montgomery, Albert “Baldy” Schick died while on duty as a fire policeman with the Montgomery Volunteer Fire Department.

He was directing traffic at the intersection of Montgomery Street and Thomas Avenue as the water was rising, according to historical records of the flood at the Thomas T. Taber Museum.

Pennsylvania on the evening of Tuesday, June 21, where it stalled for the next two days dumping huge quantities of water with rainfall charts that showed heaviest rain directly along the Susquehanna River from the Maryland line to Williamsport.

The West Branch of the Susquehanna River crested at an unprecedented 34.75 feet on June 23 at 10:30 p.m.

One slip and it was over

Jim Merrick, 84, of South Williamsport, was at the time of the storm the supervisor of the borough’s public works department, a job that he held for more than 40 years.

Today, Merrick continues to lend his institutional knowledge and skill in neighboring Armstrong Township.

“Scary,” Merrick said, recalling having to get a bit too close for comfort — walking along the top of the two-foot wide levee wall.

The levee consisted of two walls and the rest earthen dike.

Beneath him was a river carrying pieces of debris, hunks of wood, bloated farm animals and building materials downstream.

Had Merrick slipped and fell in, he would have been swept away without notice, drowning instantaneously.

Merrick credited the levee for sparing South Williamsport unlike communities without such protection.

“We spent five days on it,” Merrick said of ensuring water was getting pumped out and the laborious chore of sandbagging to protect the lower end of the borough, particularly at key points such as Maynard Street, Reynolds Street and regularly checking pump stations at Hill Street, Eck’s Run and Main Street.

President Richard Nixon studies the flood damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes, near Harrisburg, Penn. from his helicopter window, June 24, 1972. The president toured the Maryland-Pennsylvania area from his retreat at Camp David, Maryland. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)

“I never went home,” Merrick said.

Three pump house stations were exerted to their maximum capabilities.

The pump houses do what the name implies, pump excess water out to the river.

“Hill Street pump house was pumping 22,500 gallons per minute,” Merrick said.

That’s high pressure, like a firehose puts out.

Sewage was showing up on Charles Street, he said.

“It was 18 inches from coming over the dike,” Merrick said. “It was close, and in some places, it was reaching the top of the levee,” he said.

First Ward Fire Co. lost its building, with half of it ending up in Hagerman’s Run.

The debris got into the flume and choked it off, with water unable to get into the river, he said.

Similar visions of the impact of Agnes were recalled by Michael Loudenslager of South Williamsport.

He was 15 years old and recalled helping Merrick and the borough work crew with the sandbagging effort.

Loudenslager, who retired last year from the borough public works department, said he, as a teenager, wanted to jump in and help his community.

“In all my 44 years, there was nothing to compare to Agnes,” Loudenslager said.

Several times the flood water had gone over the 20-foot flood mark of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, he said, but Agnes crested at a record not shattered to this date.

Loudenslager’s father was a life member of Independent Fire Co. and had off from work that day.

He told the teenager, “We better go down and see what we can do to help.”

Help was needed at the Maynard Street bridge.

“I could see debris floating down,” he said.

Sand bags were put down at the foot of the bridge and later relocated to other places.

“The one thing I remember the most was somebody saved someone’s boat from crashing into the bridge,” Loudenslager said.

He recalled seeing a large propane tank floating and thought, ‘maybe we shouldn’t be this close.’

Sandbagging was needed at Second Avenue, where the old railroad tracks were located.

“I was sent to the First Ward Fire Co. to take furniture out,” he said. The rear end of the building had washed away into Hagerman’s Run, which was chewing up the banks, just as Merrick remembered.

Water was rolling down Main Street, and getting into basements. “It was curb to curb,” Loudenslager said.

A piece of material struck the Mountain Avenue bridge, breaking up a part of a building, shredding it like a deck of cards.

He watched how badly Second Avenue was flooded at Main Street.

Loudenslager said he then went to the Independence Hose Co. firehouse on Riverside Drive, where the dike had failed somewhat.

“I remembered hearing sirens — including a long blast as a warning for those in danger to head to high ground,” he said.

He recalled seeing Army National Guard and military equipment arrive at Reynolds Street and guardsmen putting sandbags down along with residents.

James G. Carn, a retired district judge, was living on Ames Place in the city, along Lycoming Creek. The dike wall was right behind his house.

When Carn looked, the flood water came up to 11 inches from the top of the wall.

“It was the first and only time since the wall was built in 1941, that one could reach over the top of the wall and touch the creek,” he said.

“Many feared the wall would collapse, but it wasn’t going anywhere as there are interlocking steel pilings beneath the concrete facing,” Carn said.

Homes in the area had five to six feet of surface water in the basements if those homes did not have a sump pump.

“Memorial Park was one large pond,” Carn said.

It was discovered that the city never acquired flood gates for either side of the old Memorial Avenue Bridge, a bridge later to be replaced in 1987, and both sides had to be sandbagged.

Mayor John R. Coder and various City Council members appeared throughout the day at the bridge and expressed disbelief that there were no flood gates.

“I helped sandbag there, along with dozens of others, as well as at the West Fourth and Reading Railroad bridges downstream,” Carn said.

Many area residents drove to Wildwood Cemetery and slept in their cars overnight.

“I think I was the only one to stay in the neighborhood all night,” Carn said.

Everything imaginable came down the creek: trees, oil drums, oil tanks, tires, propane tanks, pieces of homes and sheds as the creek swept everything downstream out of homes, businesses and yards.

Much of the debris piled up against the north side of the bridges as the water rose.

In Montgomery, firefighters were engaged in rescues. The first rescue in Montgomery was at the bottom of School House Road, and shortly after that a large volume of water came down Black Hole Creek and destroyed much of Hulsizers Chevrolet.

The water came over their counters and broke the plate glass windows in the showroom, according to historical records at the Lycoming County Historical Society.

The municipal water system located on Black Hole Creek on North Main Street was destroyed.

“I was away at college in Ann Arbor, Michigan, during Agnes,” said Linda Stein of Muncy.

“My mother, living in the Muncy area, excitedly called me to describe the flood. She said, ‘The water is all the way up Main Street to Harters Drug Store (now Edge Team Realty).'”

Meanwhile, per chance, “I had the United States Geological Survey Lycoming County topo maps that were required for an engineering class assignment,” Stein said.

It was easy to locate Harters on the map and follow its contour line through the territory.

From Ann Arbor, Stein said she advised her mother regarding which various other local roads were flooded.

“Mother, mystified, surely thought her daughter was a genius.”

John Dorin, a Montoursville resident who went on to serve on borough council and as mayor over three decades, was impacted by Agnes in two ways.

He and his wife and their family are natives of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre area. His wife’s family owned a hardware store in Edwardsville that was destroyed.

Dorin said in Montoursville, the western end of the borough sustained millions of dollars in residential and commercial damage.

The airport was closed and the only way to see the borough was by helicopter.

Montour Oil Co. tanks were moved by the rushing water.

Indian Park was under water, he said.

Some of his thoughts and newspaper clippings were put into a booklet that was kept by the Montoursville Historical Society.

Foresight borne out of tragedy

North of the city Old Lycoming Township was also without levee protection, as were parts of the business district ‘Golden Strip’ in Loyalsock Township.

The Antes addition includes the northern sector of Old Lycoming Township bordering Lycoming Creek.

Unfortunate residents along Cottage Avenue, Cottage Avenue West and most of the streets in this area were drastically affected, according to Tim Shumbat, a veteran Old Lycoming Township firefighter and resident.

Township homes and businesses in this area were flooded with numerous homes knocked off of their foundations, basement walls collapsed in and most of the homes flooded.

Lycoming Creek had come over its banks and was flowing down Cottage Avenue where the current was rapid and fast flowing, Shumbat said.

Cottage Avenue was too dangerous to cross and had heavy debris flowing in the current.

Another area equally hit hard was the lower Cottage Avenue area and homes along Lycoming Creek and the streets off of Lycoming Creek Road not protected by the dike before the No. 3 Bridge (near the current Budget Motel).

The businesses and homes in this area were hit very hard. In both of these areas streets were torn up and in some cases the current from the overflowing Lycoming Creek caused large gaping holes in the streets and yards.

Again, the lower Cottage Avenue was flowing from the fast moving current of Lycoming Creek overflowing its banks.

A third area of the township was smacked by Agnes. The Lower Gradenview area of the township flooded. Although this area was protected by the dike system connected to the city’s dike system, the flooding in this area was caused by the storm water backing up out of storm drains because the city could not get the dike system pump station behind the former Shirn’s Pontiac GMC dealership along Lycoming Creek operating, Shumbat noted.

This area included areas south of the No. 2 Bridge at Bottle Run to near the southern border of the township with the city.

The homes and businesses in this area experienced basement and parking lot flooding, in some cases up to the first floor.

In 1972 the fire station was located on Mill Lane and Green Avenue, leaving the only clear path out of the fire station to be Mill Lane to Lycoming Creek Road and west on Mill Lane to the remaining parts of the western part of the township.

The Lycoming Creek Road access north eventually was blocked by the flooding. Both north and south of Mill Lane on Green Avenue experienced flooding and the street was covered by several feet of flood water from the backup of the street’s storm drains because the dike pump station was not operating.

Lycoming Creek Road remained clear to travel north in the early part of the day. Eventually as the day and flooding progressed the access to the northern section of the township (Antes addition) area was not able to be made on Lycoming Creek Road. Access had to be made by traveling west on Mill Lane and taking the back roads through the township to access the northern section.

In 1972, Lycoming Creek Road was the main thoroughfare of Route 15.

• The fire company’s first rescue call was on Green Avenue to carry an elderly woman out of her home in a rescue stokes basket because her home was surrounded by several feet of water.

• Dispatch for all fire units at the time was handled by the Williamsport Bureau of Fire, as the County 911 Center had not yet been established.

• Later in the day the approach to No.3 Bridge was washed out leaving a gaping large hole making the bridge impassable. This blocked all traffic on Lycoming Creek Road (Route 15) both north and south.

• Early in the day the Old Lycoming Twp. Volunteer Fire Company was dispatched to the Antes addition area for residents trapped in their homes along the northern Cottage Avenue which was directly along Lycoming Creek.

• The homes along the creek in this area were surrounded by water on the creek side and water was rushing with a fast current down Cottage Avenue.

• The fire company attempted to use a flat bottomed rescue boat to reach the residents.

• The current was so fast and heavy, along with rushing debris the company boat with two firefighters tipped over placing them in the flood water.

• At the same time and for several hours the fire company members knocked on the doors of homes in the Antes addition to warn residents to evacuate.

• The fast moving water was already collapsing cellar walls in the area.

• Later in the day the fire company was dispatched for a man having a heart attack, and because of the height of the flood waters the ambulance was unable to access the patient.

So, the fire company’s larger fire engine needed to be used to be able to access the individual.

The patient was then transported to the hospital emergency room on the fire engine, in a rescue stokes basket resting on the engine cowl under a partial covering where the firefighters typically ride.

This was the only time one of the company’s fire engines was used to transport a patient, but it was effective for the situation and he was safely delivered to the Williamsport Hospital Emergency Room.

• Again later in the day there was a dispatch for a house fire in the area just north of Beauty’s Run Road and neither Hepburn Twp. Volunteer Fire Company or Old Lycoming Twp. Volunteer Fire Company could access it with their fire engines in spite of attempts.

• That night and for several nights the fire fighters slept in the company’s engine room on army cots.

• Fire company personnel spent weeks pumping basements out and parking lots of township resident’s homes and businesses. Resident’s basements were filled with raw sewage from septic tanks and fuel oil that had leaked from basement fuel tanks. Literally, hundreds of homes and businesses were pumped out using small portable pumps.

• The volunteers would go to work during the day and pump resident’s basements at night when off work.

• Flooded areas nearest the Lycoming Creek were left with streets and yards with gaping holes from the fast moving current of the flowing Lycoming Creek that had overflowed its banks. In some cases there were large whole sections of paved streets that had been lifted up and floated several hundred yards down the street to finally land in the yards of homes or in the street, remarkably still in the large whole section. Debris was everywhere.

“Agnes Flood had caught all of us off guard as it had been decades since our county had experienced a flood, and the dike system had been installed in a large part of the Williamsport area,” Shumbat said. Nothing like it would happen again until 1996.

For the bulk of Williamsport, the river levee spared the largest population in the county and continues to do so in storms that have not equaled the rainfall of Agnes.

The birth or inception of the levee — which is currently under a multi-million mandated repair and upgrade in places in order to be recertified as safe by the Army Corps of Engineers under new standards by Federal Emergency Management Agency is credited to Lycoming County District Attorney John Youngman Sr., a father of three who read in a 1935 newspaper that the federal Works Progress Administration had proposed building dikes around every community along the river.

Youngman grew up hearing stories of how seven of his cousins and two aunts perished when Antes Creek, had swept away their home in the historic flood of 1889. Youngman visited Wildwood Cemetery, where six of the flood victims lie side-by-side.

He lobbied tirelessly for the construction of the levee. It finally was authorized June 22, 1936, under the U.S. Flood Control Act, but it took four more years for voters to approve a $175,000 bond issue to pay local project costs.

Sadly, that year nature dealt another blow, as the river rose to 33.6 feet and spilled well beyond its banks, covering the city downtown area as far north as High Street.

As construction began, it was interrupted by World War II, and work didn’t resume for six years. The levee, built by the Army Corps of Engineers, was dedicated in October 1955. The final cost to build it was $15.2 million.

Today, estimates of repair cost in the amount and greater, up to $30 million, have been given to city and county officials by consultants and engineers working on the recertification.

The levee is one of the priorities for Mayor Derek Slaughter and City Council, who are working with multiple agencies and legislators and individuals including but not limited to Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, Federal Emergency Management Agency, state Department of Environmental Protection, state Department of Transportation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state Fish and Boat Commission, state Rep. Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township, state Rep. Jeff Wheeland, R-Loyalsock Township, state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard, U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, R-Kreamer, U.S. Senator Bob Casey, D-Scranton, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Zionsville and soon U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas.

An Army Corp of Engineers’ risk assessment on the levee is ongoing. The city has budgeted $2.1 million on it and over $3 million on Grafius Run, a tributary that causes flooding in its own right for more years than the levee has been in place. It has been estimated in the County Comprehensive plan that the levee protects $4 billion to $5 billion in real estate assets in Greater Williamsport.

No one knows if or when the next Agnes will strike, but those whose memories of it half a century ago will not soon forget their experiences.

** ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2002 FILE ** This June 23, 1972 file photo shows people being rescued by boat from their homes to dry ground after Hurricane Agnes forced the Susquehanna River to overflow its banks causing heavy flooding in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)

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