Little did we know 25 years ago how the blizzard of 1996 would end in a flood and the loss of part of a Harrisburg icon.
It snowed Sunday and Monday, Jan. 7-8 – 22.2 inches. It snowed again on Friday – another 10.8 inches.
In Pa., the blizzard is attributed to the death of 80 people. According to Accuweather, Pa. suffered the most damage - $1 billion worth.
What followed made it worse – it got warmer.
On Jan. 19, 1996, the temperature rose to a record high of 56 degrees.
On Jan. 20, heavy rain to the north and the warm temperature melted the snow and triggered floods. The Susquehanna River rose rapidly.
All that snow across the state began melting and triggered floods the magnitude of which Pa. had not seen since Agnes in 1972.
Reporters at The Patriot-News wrote, “The ice on the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers broke up and roared downstream. Saturday afternoon, the region watched in horror as the torrent swept away two spans of Harrisburg’s famous Walnut Street Bridge. A third span later fell.”
This is a still frame from home video footage of a portion of the Walnut Street Bridge being swept away by flood waters. (Provided to The Patriot-News)
It is a scene that central Pa. will likely never forget – seeing the bridge tremble then seeing part of Old Shakey fall into the Susquehanna.
Twenty-five years later the bridge remains broken – the link from the East Shore to the West Shore missing a piece.
The Walnut Street Bridge was known as the People’s Choice when it opened in 1889. It was made of 14 prefabricated iron tresses set on stone piers, with seven spans on each side of City Island, according to The Patriot-News archives. It was closed to vehicles in 1972 after the flood from Tropical Storm Agnes but remained as a pedestrian link between Wormleysburg, City Island and Harrisburg.
It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and was named a national engineering landmark in 1998.
Patriot-News reporters wrote that witnesses saw the bridge ripple. City officials worked quickly to evacuate animals from City Island.
“Eight horses, including two city police horses, were rushed onto Harrisburg Carriage Co. trailers and transported across the bridge’s east side, where the scene turned a bit scary.
The commotion of the sudden move unnerved the two police horses, which began neighing and kicking violently, shaking the entire trailer. ‘They’re not used to being in trailers. Scarface! Dizzy!’ shouted Jenise Mattern, a city police hostler.
‘Oh my God, they’re fighting . . . this isn’t going to hold up.’ Moments later, several co-workers arrived to walk the horses around Front Street and settle things down.
That was hard to do with residents streaming about the bridge entrance, toting cameras and camcorders, looking to preserve a piece of history on film.”
The Walnut Street Bridge, 1996. (The Patriot-News)PN
"that" - Google News
January 08, 2021 at 07:27PM
https://ift.tt/3bhNecw
The 25th anniversary of the blizzard that helped to take down ‘Old Shakey’ - pennlive.com
"that" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d8Dlvv
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar