Valley Girl Views: The 1936 St Patricks Day Flood

The 1936 St Patrick's Day floods are still today some of the worst floods on record for this Susquehanna valley.

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More 1936 Flood Photos

Lewisburg Milton Montgomery Sunbury Watsontown Williamsport

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The winter of 1935/36 was one of the most severe Pennsylvania had seen in years. Huge quantities of snow fell throughout the state. Prevailing low temperatures meant that each snowfall added to the last, accumulating up to three feet in many areas.

Along the river, the ice was fifteen, or even twenty, inches thick.

Then in February of 1936, the cold spell ended abruptly, and remarkably warm weather was combined with light rains.The accumulated snow melted quickly. As the ice on the river melted, the ice gorged, or jammed, in areas, creating temporary dams.

Two storms in particular brought record amounts of precipitation. And there was still a larger than normal amount of snow on the ground, for this time of year.

View from the Converting Works

"Thunderstorms Add To Years Freak Weather"

The Danville Morning News reported on Tuesday March 17 1936

According to the news, thunderstorms were almost unheard of "this time of year" and were even more unusually because the temperature dropped almost to freezing shortly before 5pm, right before the storms began. Following the first thunderstorm, the weather got warmer.

When the river broke free of its natural barriers it covered Cameron Park in about two feet of water - something none of the old timers thought possible.

According to "Susquehanna Flood Scenes 1936," the river started rising March 18. By the late evening, water was "rushing in torrents" down Susquehanna Avenue and North Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Streets "carrying destruction and misery in its course."

North Fourth Street became a raging river, right through town.

Railroad Avenue Looking South

Porches were torn loose from houses, houses were torn from their foundations, and nearly all of the plate glass store windows on market street were broken.

A boat looking for refugees, on Market St

The water rose so rapidly that the people had to seek safety in their second stories, and hope that their food would last until the waters receded.

By the time the river crested at 4 p.m. March 19, 1936, approximately two-thirds of the city was under two to 15 feet of water

Race & 3rd Street, Sunbury Pa

"Sunbury was flooded all the way up the hill on Market Street," he said. "We didn’t have the flood wall then. The white bridge across to Northumberland was right to the top with water. I remember being on the second floor balcony watching the water. I watched a farmhouse hit the bridge and burst into flames." - Andy Gavason

Three Dead In Sunbury

George Wagner, 25, a taxi driver, topped into the river when an embankment gave way.

Receding waters uncovered the bodies of two other men, yet unidentified - March 20 1936, Danville Morning News

"When the boat and [milk] barge passed an intersection, it banged into the light and concrete structure," Moore said. "Jack got thrown into the river. He got swept down Fourth Street. He grabbed a porch rail and saved himself. That might give you an idea how devastating the flood was." - Jack Minier

The Business district, looking west from 10th st

Sunbury newspaperman Jack Gillen recalls rushing to the window when he heard screams, to to heads bobbing up and down in the water below. They were artificial heads of mannequins caught in the water when a display window in the department store was broken. Three local youths did climb the trellis outside of Gillens house, and waited with Gillen and his sister to be rescued by boat.

By Friday morning, March 20, 150 people were quarantined in Sunbury, as an epidemic of Scarlet Fever, and of measles, broke out. The town was without head, "which caused intense suffering, especially among the children"

On Sunday March 22nd, the waters began to recede. The Shamokin News reported "The flood swept city presents many tragic sights. Houses knocked crooked, foundations weakened, sidewalks and streets were washed out, and merchandise was strewn about in wild disorder. "

By Sunday night, water still lay in some streets, but at no place was it more than 2 feet in depth.

Market & 5th Streets

David Linderman found that he had gained a garage in the flood. It had been deposited in the backyard of his home

3rd & Market St

At the "horn", a spot on Market street, a single frame tire repair shop sat by a boulevard light pole. It had originally be located on a side street two blocks away.

Guards were on duty in front of the liquor store, where the plate glass windows had been shattered. A partially filled beer keg had washed away and landed on the top step of the Mennonite church.

A big clock on the sidewalk in front of a jewelry store was stopped at exactly 10:00. That was the time the water broke through the dyke at the converting works and flooded the city.

The Refugee Train

Many refugees were taken out of the city as soon as a road was open, on Friday the 20th. Some to Shamokin, others to Northumberland. A refugee train arrived to take hundreds to Shamokin.

One elderly woman with two daughters was chagrined that she was compelled to leave the basement of St Luke's Church on Catawissa Avenue. She was one of the 500 refugees that had been huddled in the basement of the church, since Thursday morning. By late Thursday afternoon, the pastor insisted the refugees had to board the relief train.

It was not easy to convince any of the refugees to leave. They wanted to stay in the area to see what had happened to their homes and possessions, and to get back to them to begin the clean up as soon as possible. Most were also concerned about looting. It was however, not safe, nor sanitary, and a series of broadcasts finally got most of them to board the relief train.

The Teisher family had been rescued from their porch roof (as were many others) after water reached a depth of 20 feet. Mrs Harry Teisher remembers that the piano in the parlor was floating around and banging into the walls. She boarded the refugee train by herself, with a paper bag "stuffed with wearing apparel". Her two sons were left at the home of friend, where they were safe, and could collect their pay from a factory at the east end of Sunbury.

Refugees who arrived in Shamokin

The Reading Company Refugee Train took 433 Sunbury Flood victims to Shamokin.

A check up showed 283 adults and 150 children. Six refugees brought dogs with them.

The flood victims, possessing only the clothes they were wearing, filled seven coaches.

One Sunbury journalist commented about the departure of the residents: "The sight, as the hundreds boarded the trains, looked like the exodus of exiles, from a town of revolution. They bore boxes, paper bags, dogs, canaries and parrots, anything they had time to clutch when the rescue boats came up to their windows."

Five nurses went along on the train, and milk was distributed freely. No serious illnesses developed, but headaches troubled many.

When the train arrived in Shamokin, several thousand gathered at Market Street. Specially deputized police cleared paths for the victims, who were escorted to the old Moose building. Medical treatment, food, and rest was waiting for them there.

Entertainment programs were held, such a vaudeville skits at the Rescue Fire Station, the WPA concert orchestra at teh home for indigents, and the Leo Mack and orchestra - for the indigents.

On March 23, 8 Sunbury refugees in Shamokin were taken to the hospital. Four "submitted to operations for appendicitis" : Mrs Elizabeth Johnson, Mrs Beulah Harris, James Buckles, and Winston Miller. The remaining four were treated for severe colds and exposure. They were: William Burgess, Clarence Snyder, and Harry Bower

On March 25, it was finally safe for the men and boys (and women without men in their households) to return home and assist the WPA with clean up efforts.

380 women and children were kept in Shamokin for a few more days, as once they left, they would not be allowed to return, "a precaution against any spread of contagion"

market street near 7th street

CCC workers, and city workers, had begun the clean up days earlier. Fire hoses cleaned the silt from the streets, and it was shoveled into trucks and carted away.

Attorney E.A. Witmer stands by the Public Meat Market & Shotsburger Drug Store

Although martial law was not declared, the town was under strict military rule. A quarantine was issued to keep sight seers out of the town - no one could enter without a pass.

(Sight seers were allowed as far as the extreme eastern end of Sunbury)

Diseases ran rampant after floods, with unsanitary conditions and a lack of clean water.

The families would be notified when the cleaning process and sanitation measures are completed, after which they will be provided with transportation for their departure"

Shamokin News Dispath, 25 March 1936

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