A timeline of the events of July 19-20, 1977. Times are estimated, and have been culled from newspaper reports and first-person accounts of the flood.
Tuesday, July 19
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.: Rumbling thunder and sporadic lightning criss-crosses the region. Rain begins to fall in various areas about this time, interrupting baseball games and community festivals. Power goes out in several neighborhoods as early as 8:30.
9 p.m. to 11 p.m.: Rains are now heavy across the region and some flooding has begun. By the next morning, 11 inches of rain will have fallen on the Johnstown region.
10 p.m.: A railroad manager in East Conemaugh gets a call from a local tower informing him that water is rushing over the tracks of the main line.
11 p.m.: Employees of The Tribune-Democrat in downtown Johnstown notice water is leaking into the ground floor. Most of those workers will be trapped in the building all night.
11:30 p.m.: Solomon Run has become a raging river through Walnut Grove. Some residents evacuate. Others soon find their escape routes have been cut off by surging water.
By the time the waters recede, Solomon Run has carved a gully through the area that is 6 feet deep and 30 feet wide in some sections. An entire stretch of Route 56 has been undercut by water and washed away.
Midnight: Water continues to rise in downtown Johnstown, and the basement of the post office is flooded. Workers observe cars being carried past the building by rushing currents.
Wednesday, July 20
1 a.m.: A command center is established at the Meadowvale school in Hornerstown. The school building later floods, forcing refugees and emergency volunteers to climb to the second floor.
3 a.m.: Workers at the Bethlehem Steel Rod & Wire Division are evacuated as the nearby Conemaugh River tops its banks.
4 a.m.: Laurel Run Dam bursts, sending a torrent of water and debris down the valley through the community of Tanneryville. Nearly half of the flood’s 85 fatalities will be from Tanneryville.
4:30 a.m.: Water from the Laurel Run Dam has merged with the raging Conemaugh River. Some people in Coopersdale and other areas of Johnstown later recount seeing the river reverse its course for several minutes.
5 a.m.: Water rips through a trailer park in Seward, mangling homes and chasing residents into nearby trees. In Johnstown, the rains had essentially ended.
6 a.m.: Residents of other hard-hit neighborhoods – Dale, Windber, Moxham, Hornerstown, Cambria City, Franklin, East Conemaugh, Morrellville, Woodvale, Scalp Level – are moving from their battered homes and hiding places to find a community that looks like a war zone.
Street pavement has been pulled up, trees have been uprooted, homes have been crushed and cars have been swept into heaps of twisted metal.
7 a.m.: Radio broadcasters are warning people not to attempt to enter downtown Johnstown due to heavy flooding and damage. It is a surreal image, as the sun has risen on what will otherwise be a picture-perfect summer day.
Noon: Helicopters begin plucking flood survivors, including some in Seward who have been stranded in trees for hours.
5:30 p.m.: A special edition of The Tribune-Democrat focusing on the flood arrives in Johnstown. The newspapers were printed in nearby Greensburg.
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