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Flood damage at the Solomon housing project, Johnstown, PA, July, 1977.
Credit: Courtesy of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, Photographer Merle Agnello for the Tribune-Democrat.
On July 19, 1977, thunderstorms dumped close to a foot of rain in just ten hours and unleashed a flash flood on Johnstown that resulted in eighty-five deaths and $300 million in property damages. By comparison, the Great Johnstown flood of 1889 killed 2,209 people.