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Flood Museum Materials
Rescue the Living
The first night after the Flood was filled with terror for survivors. The floodwave had carried most people away from where they were and dumped them somewhere else. Many were injured. Huge piles of filthy wreckage trapped others. Debris buried the dead. No one knew whether their families and friends were still alive or where the Flood had carried them. The rushing water continued to carry some people down the river.
The flood waters were still high, dammed up by the clogged stone bridge. Damaged buildings kept crashing down all night, making it dangerous for anyone seeking shelter inside. Just when it seemed like it couldn’t get worse, it did. The blocks and blocks of wrecked buildings, trees, machines, and everything else scraped from the Valley, caught fire.
While the rain continued to pour from the sky, people got to work. Survivors who weren’t hurt listened for people who were trapped (especially near the fire at the stone bridge!) and dug them out. Neighbors living nearby, but above the flooded area, collected food, warm clothes, and blankets. Then they opened their homes to flood victims who had lost theirs. People living downstream on the Conemaugh River stretched ropes across the flood rapids to rescue victims floating by. The further down the river they went, the fewer survived.
No one took pictures of these rescue efforts. Everyone was too busy trying to stay alive and help their neighbors do the same.
Recover the Dead
It was too late to rescue thousands of people who died from the crushing force of the floodwave within moments after it hit. They were buried deep under the wreckage. Right away people knew there were thousands of victims. In a few days when trains from Pittsburgh could get through, one of the first loads sent were coffins. It would take months to find, count, identify, and bury all of the bodies in their final graves. Undertakers from all over the state volunteered to help with this terrible job.
After the flood, survivors searched through the debris, looking for the bodies of the victims. Once the bodies were located, they had to be moved to the make-shift morgues, where they were identified and prepared for burial.
The task of cleaning up after the flood was Herculean in nature. Workers pose in front of only a small section of the wreckage that had to be cleared.
Survivors were given duties to start to clean up the destruction almost as soon as the flood was over.
Mountains of flood debris dwarf this man. Survivors had to sift through these piles to search for other survivors. All of this debris had to be sorted through and removed.
Survivors found large railroad equipment that had been twisted by the force of the water.
Morgue workers take a break from their awful job. Many undertakers came from nearby towns to volunteer their services. The smaller coffins were for the children and infants who died in the flood.
Flood debris could be piled as high as a single story, as in this photo, or much higher. Locating survivors trapped underneath was very difficult and dangerous.
People had to search through the debris for survivors. They had to be careful of buildings damaged in the flood. They could collapse at any time. Anyone inside could be injured or killed.
Even after much of the debris had been cleared from the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge, survivors continued to face a difficult task of recovering what they could.
Nearby cities sent thousands of coffins to Johnstown. Here stacks of coffins wait to be taken to the morgues.
Parts of the mills survived the flood. However, much of the mills were either damaged or destroyed.
Flood survivors located household items in the flood debris and created dwellings from what they found.
The bodies of James Murtha, his wife and three children, and the body of Miss Ripple, were located on Main Street near Bedford Street.
Along with the thousands of coffins that arrived came the morticians. Along with the professionals were the survivors who volunteered to help in the morbid task of logging the bodies of the victims and identifying as many as possible.
