That Was No Lady!

        TUESDAY, JUNE 23rd

        THAT WAS NO "LADY"

    Some days and events tend to stick
out in our mind. Sometimes they're
triumphs and  sometime they're
tragedies! And sometimes they're
a bit of both!
    If you're old enough you probably
remember where you were and what
you were doing the day President
Kennedy was shot. Or, perhaps, the
day we landed on the moon!
   I know exactly where I was and
what I was doing 43-years-ago today.
   I was telling a lot of you, or your
parents, or grandparents to get out
of the house and seek shelter!
   This was the day the Susquehanna
river began to flood a good part of
Wyoming Valley thanks to a "lady"
named Agnes! Of course Agnes was
no lady. She was a tropical storm
that then President Richard Nixon
called "the greatest natural disaster
to hit the United States." It caused
3 billion dollars (1972 dollars) in
damage and claimed 128 lives on
its journey.
    I was News Director at WILK
Radio back in those days. But I
was drafted by Luzerne County
Civil Defense to keep people
informed on the emergency and
the aftermath.
    I told my wife I'd be home a
little late. I stopped back there for
a nap three and a half days later.
At least she knew where I was. She
could hear me on the Flood Emergency
Network we set up! 13 area radio
stations agreed to join forces once
every hour to broadcast updates and
messages to victims whose families
were separated by the all too wide
river!
     Our efforts seemed to be
successful. Although any loss of
life is unacceptable only three
people were lost in Wyoming Valley
which was hardest hit by Agnes.
      Several students from Wyoming
Valley West did a history project on
the Agnes flood this year. They
called it "Unsung Heroes of the
Flood." I was honored to be one of
several people they highlighted in
they production. Of course there
were many unsung heroes during
that disaster including thousands of
people who volunteered to sandbag
the levy system in an attempt to hold
back the flood. National Guardsmen
patrolled the streets to assure safety
while the streets were still covered in
mud and debris.
      And the biggest heroes may well
be the folks I told to evacuate who
came back, dug out, and rebuilt the
Valley!    
       There have been a lot of stories
over these 43 years, including a couple
floods. But none have been bigger in
terms of the number of people
affected and the financial damage
sustained than the story of a storm
called "Agnes." That was no lady!
        Hope we don't see the likes of
her again so that all our NEWS can
be good!