Top 10 Disasters To Occur In Pennsylvania History

A list and description of the top 10 disasters in Pennsylvania history.

Source: Only In Your State

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[brucesmith]

Agnes is #1 according to a _Morning Call_ report in 2022. The devastation was widespread with the central, northern, and northeastern regions of the state hardest hit. It also came it at $2.1 bn in damages. As a kid, I remember my grandmother in northern PA keeping records of the Agnes floods. My family had moved to New Jersey just prior to the storm and we had a chance to go back to our old neighborhood in Camp Hill, PA. My next-door neighbors had a boat which they used to rescue people from their flooded homes along the Yellow Breeches Creek. I remember seeing mud everywhere. Devastating.

[jonrichardson]

You miss the Johnstown flood of 1977 when they had that cloud burst in the valley

[dunebuggy]

I was 9 years old when Agnes hit. It devastated a lot of manufacturing in the state. Things were never the same since then. And I have relatives that live near three mile island that stayed with us for about 2 weeks during that situation.

[diannramsay]

Wow I can't believe you didn't have the Austin Dam break on there that happened in Austin Pennsylvania🤔

[IndividualIntent]

I have been to centralia and bunny hopped that exact gap on my bike in the first picture!

[GarandLuvr]

What about the train wreck in Camp Hill in which 70 people were killed just before the Civil War, and the one at Frankfort Junction that killed 90 in 1943? 😢😢😢

[GaryPeterson-sgyv]

My grandparents were in the Johnstown flood

[jimgriffin]

Flight 93 should not be number 2. In fact, many other natural disasters overshadow it. The Knox Mine Disaster, for one.

[michaelraiger]

There’s a book by David McCullough in the Johnstown Flood which is a must read. The greed of Pittsburgh capitalists like Carnegie caused that disaster. They killed 10, 000 to satisfy their desires to spend weekends in clean air while the workers had to breathe the noxious air of Pittsburgh. Some people were trapped for days in the debris that got choked up in a bridge at the end of the town. Some burned to death in the fires in that debris and people had to watch in horror. That whole clique should have been jailed for life. But they transferred the trial to Pittsburgh because the articles of incorporation for the resort which caused the flooding was there?, so the people couldn’t get a fair trial. Nothing changes with people in power.

[vincentschmitt]

No mention of the Oakford Park disaster? On July 5th 1903 a man made lake burst its makeshift dam killing 20. It washed out the trolley park and raged through the bottom of Grapeville. There many postcards of the disaster. I have a couple. Btw Moe and Shemp spent two summers at Oakford Park in Jeannette working in the theater in 1919 and 1920.

[offtherealm]

Also of note .... Austin Damn/Bayless Paper Mill, Plane Crash in Blossburg, PA. There was also a very bad plane crash near Pittsburgh in the late 90s.

[bluewaterBill]

The Opra House disaster happened at Boyertown, PA. Maybe your spell check changed it to Boertown.

[jonyemm]

The Centralia mine fire has to be one of the most over exaggerated things in PA. It is nothing like people claim it is. Only real thing was graffiti highway which is now uner a few feet of dirt.

[brettkostik]

Knox mine disaster, Battle of wyoming, centralia?

[seewead]

I used to live in Johns town! Drowsy area.

[LilPnutDollMom]

What about civil war/battle of Gettysburg?

[youthful]

I went to Centralia once, it was pretty unexciting now that the towns been leveled and cleaned up, graffiti highway was cool before the state put dirt piles all over it

[mattdarkes]

One is a dynamite accident in Stouchsburg, Berks County in the late 1800s. That's in Pennsylvania. It killed people and shattered windows of homes.

[beverlydiltz]

Their was the Avondale mine disaster. I grew up there. It was a Sunday where the fathers and eldest son could work. They all perished by fire. No sure of how many but I believe it was in 200 range. Very sad.

[HDlyfe]

No mention of the Austin Dam disaster in 1911?? Should've been #1 or 2 on this list.