Johnstown Flood | Overflow | 2

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Engineer John Parke and a team of workers furiously shovel dirt, trying to shore up the South Fork Dam as it threatens to overflow, amid torrential rains. Parke knows these efforts are their only chance of preventing a terrible flood. He decides he has to warn the towns in the river valley of the imminent danger — but it’s a warning they’ve heard too many times in the past to take seriously.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	John Park slams his pickaxe into the ground, sending chunks of loose dirt flying.
0:16.0	Another worker scoops up the dirt with a shovel and tosses it onto a growing pile.
0:21.6	Park wipes the rain from his face, then looks around at the two dozen workers on his crew, each swinging a pickaxe or hoisting a shovel.
0:30.0	He haulers instructions over the pounding rain, which hasn't let up for hours.
0:35.0	More earth there!
0:37.0	Yeah, that's right.
0:38.0	And tamp it down harder.
0:40.0	It'll wash away if you leave it like that.
0:42.0	Park is just 23, but... It'll wash away if you leave it like that.
0:42.6	Park is just 23, but as the chief engineer for the nearby Hunting and Fishing Club,
0:48.2	he's in charge of this crew.
0:50.2	They were originally hired to install sewage lines for the club's lavish cottages,
0:55.0	but this morning they've been given another more urgent task,
0:59.0	raised the height of the dam that sits on club property.
1:03.2	It's just before 9 a.m. on May 31st, 1889 in Western Pennsylvania.
1:10.4	Terential rains, including 8 inches the previous day, have raised the water level dangerously high in the lake behind the South Fork Dam.
1:19.0	The water now sits less than three feet from the crest of the dam and each second more
1:25.6	water is pouring into the lake from the swollen creek surrounding it.
1:29.2	If the rising water spills over the top of the dam, it will flood John's town and the other
1:35.0	towns in the river valley below.
1:37.6	The overflowing water could also damage the top of the dam, which could lead to even more flooding.
1:43.5	Park doesn't want to contemplate how bad things could get.
	...

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