Published: June 20, 2007 09:41 am      

Special flood coverage kicks off this week

For the next month, we’ll be rolling out special coverage dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Johnstown flood of 1977.

After the anniversary – which occurs July 19-20 – you’ll be able to purchase a copy of a special commemorative video presentation about the flood. This joint project between The Tribune-Democrat and WJAC-TV will include the station’s one-hour special program, which will air on July 20, as well as additional interviews, newspaper photographs and other features related to the flood. You’ll soon be able to order advance copies of the DVD through our Web site and WJAC’s.

By the first week of July, our commemorative book – “Disaster’s Wake: A Retrospective of the 1977 Johnstown Flood” – will be available for those who ordered advance copies and those who want to pick up one at local stores and shops. The book contains new stories, old stories, photographs and first-person accounts of the ’77 flood.

Much of the book is dedicated to vintage photographs. The shooters of that period captured the tragedy and the aftermath in powerful images. And current Tribune-Democrat photographer John Rucosky catalogued those 30-year-old images for publication in the book and the DVD, as well as for future use by folks here at the newspaper.

The book also contains numerous stories written during the summer of ’77 and in the months and years after.

In August of ’77, The Tribune-Democrat produced a special section that told the story of the flood, and how it impacted the Johnstown area’s various communities. The writers of that time – some of them still on staff at The Tribune-Democrat – did such a superb job that we had no reason to retrace their steps. So we published their stories as they appeared, with some minor editing and updating where it was needed.

We also showcased in the book the work of former staffer Larry Hudson. He wrote a powerful overview of the flood later that summer, and also produced a strong column expressing his feelings about living through and covering the event. Larry, now with a paper in Mississippi, was kind enough to write a new column for our book.

Earlier this year, we solicited readers to share their memories of the flood. And many of those offerings – in full, or in part – are in the book as well.

The rest of the book is new material. We look at the economic impact of the flood and measures taken in Johnstown since that time. And we try to answer that all-important question: Could it happen again?

The heart of the book – literally and figuratively – would be the stories about people who experienced the flood in one way or another, and who sat down with our reporters to reflect and remember.

They include individuals who helped with rescue efforts, with cleaning up and with providing aid to those who were in need.

And they include individuals who lost homes and businesses, friends and family members to the raging waters – among them folks whose loved ones vanished and were never recovered.

Beginning Thursday and running for 30 days – right up to the anniversary– we’ll publish these stories in The Tribune-Democrat. They’ll run under the banner “Faces of the Flood,” which is quite appropriate, as you’ll see.

Each story is in itself informational and moving. Together, they reflect the variety of experiences brought on by the flood of 1977. And together they begin to tell the story of the suffering endured by some, and the heroism and dedication that sprang up from the mud and debris left behind when the waters receded.

We think that once you’ve read one or two of these stories, you’ll look forward each day to the next one.

And by the time the 30th anniversary arrives, perhaps we’ll all have a greater appreciation for those who survived the flood of 1977. And those who didn’t.



Chip Minemyer is the editor of The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 532-5091.