Remembering Agnes

   I've been doing a lot of public speaking
over the past two years.
   Sometimes it's in schools but more often
than not it's for one of northeastern
Pennsylvania's Historical Societies. I
suppose they figure I lived through a lot of
the history they've asked me to talk about.
   That was the case last night as I drove to
Archbald to share my experiences during
the "Agnes Flood" of 1972.
   I got in the thick of things back then
when I was drafted to be the Public
Information Officer for Luzerne County
Civil Defense.
   In those days Civil Defense was set
up to deal with a possible nuclear
attack. That's why the Emergency Center
was set up in the Sub basement of the
Luzerne County Courthouse.
   I suppose we were safe enough from
radioactive fallout. But when water
started to come up through the floor
drain in the room where I was working
it occurred to me that we might be in
trouble! I was right!
   I shared many of my flood stories
with the group last night including,
for the first time, how I became News
Director of WNEP for a day, and how
we lost only one report on the Flood
Emergency Radio Network when
two little kids used the wire from our
Command Center to the radio station
for a Jump rope!
    There's no question that the Agnes
Flood is the single biggest story of the
modern era in northeastern Pennsylvania
both in terms of immediate and long
term impact! In fact the story has never
really ended!  Changes made since "Agnes"
are still affecting other area communities
whenever storms hit us now!
    And it's a big reason why I'm glad I'm
not in the newsroom when heavy rains
have us all looking at the river!
I'm not much for getting in deep
these days
    I much prefer seeing water around me
going down the drain!
    Hope you're high and dry when the
storms come around and that all your
NEWS is good!