Tuesday, September 28, 2010

High Water - Pittsburgh, PA

This card, showing high water in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is probably from the March 1907 flood.
The report below from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is courtesy of  the GenDisasters website:


PITTSBURG, March 15.—Flood losses in Allegheny county are summarized as follows:

Loss in output of steel mills, $3,000,000; loss in output of other industries, $2,000,000; loss in wages of employees, $1,837,000, estimated damage to industrial plants, $2,500,000; total, $9,337,000.



With the rapid receding of the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio rivers which is taking place tonight conditions are fast assuming normal proportions and the most destructive flood in the history of the city is at an end. At nightfall the approaches to the bridges were clear of water and several hours later street car service was resumed.


Thousands of suburbanites who have been stranded in this city since yesterday were able to reach their homes while the downtown section, which has been crowded with sightseers, is almost deserted. The only indications of the flood in the downtown section tonight are the many pipes across the sidewalks through which water is being pumped from submerged basements. In several districts power plants have been repaired and candles, used for thirty-six hours, have been replaced with electric lights.


At 9 o’clock to-night the rivers had fallen almost eight feet. At that hour the stage was twenty-nine feet, and dropping a half foot an hour.


Immediately following the subsiding of the water the task of repairing the damage was begun. A majority of the employees of the large manufacturing establishments who were temporarily thrown out of employment are endeavoring to put the plants in working order and by Monday most of these will have resumed operations.


Railway service is being restored but local train schedules have been revised, allowing each train more time. This action was taken owing to the fear that the roadbeds may have been weakened by the water. In some instances sections of tracks have been washed away and a number of railroad bridges outside of Pittsburg were damaged.


Excitement was caused to-day by several fires. One which swept the Mt. Washington district had to be dynamited on account of a shortage of water in the mains. The loss is about $225,000.


The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, IN 16 Mar 1907


3 comments:

  1. I hear Johnny Cash singing....
    "How high's the water, Momma?"
    "Four feet high and rising."

    ReplyDelete
  2. I work in Pittsburgh, in an office building that has a great view of the Allegheny River and we watch with nervous excitement when the river starts to rise.

    This is more recent view of the same area (I'm Zmrzlina on Postcrossing, but PostMuse most everywhere else).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks PostMuse!
    What an interesting contrast.

    ReplyDelete

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