Episode 1 of 2
Dam Failure
- When
- May 31, 1889
- Where
- South Fork Dam
The South Fork Dam failed on May 31, 1889, after record rainfall, causing a flood that killed 2,208 people.
A low-pressure system formed in Nebraska and Kansas on May 28, 1889, bringing the heaviest recorded rainfall to western Pennsylvania. The South Fork Dam, 14 miles upstream of Johnstown, failed on May 31. The resulting flood killed 2,208 people and caused $17 million in damage.
Sources
- Johnstown Flood Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.