Wednesday, May. 11, 2011
Johnstown, Pa., 1889
Date: May 31, 1889
Significance: More than 2,200 dead
Holmes says: Engineers are called on all the time to analyze what would happen if a dam burst — where would all the water go, how fast would it get there and so on. In this case, the South Fork Dam failed, unleashing 20 million tons of water on Johnstown, located just 14 miles from the dam. Less than an hour after the dam burst, a wall of water some 30 feet high smashed into the town at speeds of 20 to 40 miles per hour. There is a fascinating book on the disaster, written by historian David McCullough, and the flood is also the subject of Bob Dylan's "Shelter from the Storm."