August 18-20, 1955: Three terrifying days and nights still remembered with awe in the Delaware River watershed. - David Laskin, author of The Children\'s Blizzard and Braving the Elements.
The prose is crisp, the photos mesmerizing...an electrifying read.
The Stories of innocent people swept away in raging Flood waters-some of them taken by surprise in the middle of the night or carried off while would-be rescuers extended helping hands-will haunt me.
Shafer\'s Devastation on the Delaware is a meticulously researched, compellingly written account of a major meteorological catastrophe.
Jon Nese, former Weather Channel Storm Analyst In the tradition of Isaac\'s Storm and The Johnstown Flood, Mary A. 60th Anniversary Edition Foreword by Dr.
More than 125 historical photos and two dozen+ maps illustrate this definitive account of a tragic weather disaster that changed life in the Delaware watershed forever.
Devastation on the Delaware follows the true Stories of survivors and eyewitnesses to bring these chilling events to life.
Despite several more destructive floods in the first decade of this century, the Deadly Flood of 1955 remains the record-holder in terms of life lost, property destroyed and longterm effects on the Delaware River.
Victims\' bodies were still being recovered thirty years later-at least one was never found.
Dozens were missing, some ripped, still sleeping, from their beds in the middle of the night.
In the end, nearly a hundred people were dead and hundreds more homeless in the Delaware River watershed.
More than 400 children were evacuated by helicopter from island camps in a tense, unprecedented operation.
Entire summer camps were washed away.
Mountain resorts were inundated, leaving cars up-ended in swimming pools.
Eventually, they all poured into the Delaware, transforming the usually placid waters into a raging, uncontrollable beast.
Tributaries swelled unbelievably, some rising thirty feet in fifteen minutes.
From the river\'s headwaters in the Catskills and through the Poconos, excessive runoff surged down steep slopes and through valleys on both sides of the river.
It was soon overshadowed by terror and destruction that tore away bridges and ripped houses from their foundations.
Record-breaking rainfall from back-to-back hurricanes- Connie, then Diane-abruptly ended a withering drought, but the relief was short-lived.
August 18-20, 1955: Three terrifying days and nights still remembered with awe in the Delaware River watershed
