Floods on the Susquehanna

Floods on the Susquehanna. The Timber Trail. , A natural part of river life, floods reshape a river's contours and spread nutrients throughout the floodplain. Along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, thousands of years of periodic flooding created a fertile valley where massive white pines dominated the landscape. When settlers arrived, they felled these pines and farmed the rich soil. Drawn to the West Branch for transportation and water-powered industry, early settlers built towns along its banks where they would, inevitably, face the floods. , The West Branch drains nearly 7,000 square miles, so during widespread rainstorms or springtime runoff, the river carries an immense water load. In the late 1800s, logging throughout the Susquehanna watershed compounded floods. Without trees to absorb runoff and hold hillside soils in place, rainwater rushed to the river carrying tons of soil, intensifying the river's battering power. , Major floods have periodically inundated Williamsport since it was founded in 1795. During the Great Flood of 1889, six feet of water submerged downtown Williamsport. Raging waters battered and breached the Susquehanna Boom, sending 200 million board feet of logs downstream. These floodwaters also destroyed the West Branch Canal, which had, for 60 years, facilitated reliable transport up and down river. In 1936, the city experienced its worst flooding ever , floodwaters rose all the way to Williamsport's High Street., Holding Back the Waters , Williamsport District Attorney John Youngman, Sr. had lost two aunts and seven cousins in the 1889 flood. After the 1936 flood, he led the initiative to construct dikes to protect the city. Though construction began in the early 1940s, two more floods washed through the city before the Army Corps of Engineers completed the flood protection system in 1955. The dike system passed its first major test when Hurricane Agnes struck in 1972 and the West Branch rose to within a foot of the levee's top. In 1996, the dikes again repelled floodwaters from the city, though much of the surrounding countryside was inundated.