![]() ![]() In the 1920s Swedish geologists believed that a thick layer of silt mapped north (Map from Høgaas and colleagues, 2023) Icebergs from Østerdalen far out to sea The researchers have been able to infer the maximum flood level from theĪble to reconstruct just how large the flooded areas were, as shown on the map below.Ī closer view of the map above shows more precisely where the red circles are, which is where the researchers took samples. This height reflects the peakįlooding, and no trace of the flood sediments are found above that.” Of these water beds we found a lot of sediments from the flood.”īased on the principle that the sediments carried by the masses of water wereĭeposited up to a certain elevation in the landscape. That lakes and marshes acted as natural "sediment traps" during the ![]() Silt bed upwards along the sides of the impacted terrain by examining sediments Have now been able to precisely delineate the areas that were flooded by the megafloodīy using the distribution of the sediment records in this silt bed. Silt is fine sand, dust-like but solid, which has been transported by water or ice and been deposited as sediment. Mjelen or mjela refers to the silt bed remains after the flood, Into the ground in Romerike a little, in a lot of places you’ll find aĬharacteristic light layer of silt that is called Romeriksmjele in Two years, Høgaas and his colleagues have been taking a closer look at theĭestruction wrought in the areas of Eastern Norway that were inundated by the Gravel, sand and mud,” says the geologist. The total death toll was calculated originally as 2,209 people, making the disaster the largest loss of civilian life in the United States at the time.Īccording to records compiled by The Johnstown Area Heritage Association, bodies were found as far away as Cincinnati, and as late as 1911 99 entire families died in the flood, including 396 children 124 women and 198 men were widowed 98 children were orphaned and one-third of the dead, 777 people, were never identified their remains were buried in the “Plot of the Unknown” in Grandview Cemetery in Westmont.Related The inner parts of the Oslofjord contains some of the most exciting traces of Stone Age people in Europe ![]() The flood met its first serious resistance at the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Stone Bridge, which saved the lives of thousands by not breaking.Īfter dark, however, the thirty acres of debris, at places forty feet high, that had piled up behind the bridge caught on fire and burned through the night, blanketing the ravaged town in a dark cloud of acrid smoke. Next came the great wall of water sixty-three feet (19m) high that smashed into the city, “crushing houses like eggshells” and snapping trees like toothpicks. Next, they saw the dark cloud and mist and spray that preceded it, and were assaulted by a wind that blew down small buildings. The residents of Johnstown heard the speeding wall of death, a roar like thunder. Scouring its way towards Johnstown, the flood picked up several hundred boxcars, a dozen locomotives, more than 100 houses and a growing number of corpses. Next in line was Woodvale, a town of about 1,000, that the torrent smashed with equal ferocity. Point and swept away all traces of its existence. Roaring down the narrow path of the Little Conemaugh River, a seventy-foot (21m) wall of water, filled with huge chunks of dam, boulders, and whole trees, smashed into the small town of Mineral In less than forty-five minutes, twenty million tons of water poured into the valley below. on May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam gave way. However, the telegraph lines were down and the warning did not reach Johnstown.Īt approximately 3:00 p.m. A spillway at the dam became clogged with debris that could not be dislodged.Īn engineer at the dam saw warning signs of an impending disaster and rode a horse to the village of South Fork to warn the residents. On May 31, the residents were unaware of the danger that steady rain over the course of the previous day had caused. In 1889, Johnstown was home to 30,000 people, many of whom worked in the steel industry. Though the dam had been built according to accepted engineering practices, the canal system was obsolete by the time the dam was completed in 1853. The South Fork Dam was built between 18 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide water for the operation of the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal between Johnstown and Pittsburgh. A tree protrudes from a house tossed by the flood.
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