City of Ithaca - The Great Flood of 1935
Six Mile Creek in the City of Ithaca is channelized through high concrete walls, and normally runs gently over the creekbed, a trickle winding its way out to Cayuga Lake. But on Sunday night, July 7, 1935, after more than seven inches of rain had fallen, it was a raging torrent overtopping the concrete walls. Police and firefighters banged on doors in the neighborhood to rouse the residents to evacuate. One resident, a child at the time, remembers being rushed to Barton Hall on the Cornell campus, where hundreds of other residents fled for safety. "...In front of our house , my young eyes saw a scene I will never forget. Here was this mild mannered Creek with never more than a trickle now having become a mighty heaving river with water rushing at a frantic pace...."...IMAGE 1: People alongside an overflowing creek in a residential neighborhood (possibly Fall Creek). 1935. A creek, deep set in concrete, its water flowing over top the bridge in the foreground, flows through a residential neighborhood. Houses and trees line the far side of the street, and people, some in rain boots, line both sides of the creek. In the foreground broken branches litter the cross street the creek flows under.IMAGE 2: Two cars submerged halfway up their tires by flood water on a residential street. Houses are in the background. 1935. IMAGE 3: West Buffalo Street in Ithaca. A line of cars appraches past a tree down a flooded West Biffalo St, with houses along the right side of the picture, and in the background. The railroad crossing is visible at the end of the block, with boxcars labeled "Lakawana." The bottom half of the picture is standing water. 1935Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
Trumansburg - The Destruction of Main Street - 1935
A torrential rainfall started on Sunday July 7th, 1935, and fell throughout the day and into the night. By 3:00 A.M. Monday morning Trumansburg Creek had swelled into terrifying proportions, and an angry wall of water 12 feet high roared through the village, smashing buildings into splinters, and carrying off five people to their deaths. Every single store on Main Street in the heart of the village was damaged, and five homes were completely destroyed. Two stores were washed away, with nothing left of them but the gaping holes made by their basements. One of them collapsed with a tenant who lived above it, and she was hurled to her death in the wreckage. ...IMAGE 1: A+P Grocery Store on Main St in Trumansburg. 1935. IMAGE 2:Intersection Rt 96 (Main St.) and Union St in Trumansburg covered in flood water. 1935. Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
Local Waterfalls Roar After Hurricane Agnes - 1972
Hurricane Agnes in June 1972 was one of the most destructive hurricanes in US history, with more than $3 billion in damages in 12 states and more than 100 dead. The greatest impact was felt in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, with New York's Southern Tier suffering the worst flooding. Over the four-to-five day rain event more than seven inches of rain fell in Tompkins County. Buttermilk Creek was one of the many local creeks that overflowed its banks, and three feet of water was recorded flowing past the entrance to Buttermilk Falls State Park.Learn more from this 2017 Ithaca Voice article about Hurricane Agnes. ...**The History Center archives do not currently (as of 2022) include any photographs of the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flood in Tompkis County. Potential donors are encouraged to contact archives@thehistorycenter.net.IMAGE 1: Buttermilk Falls, Ithaca NYIMAGE 2: Ithaca Journal, Front Cover, June 26th 1972Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
Enfield Glen Reservation Park Amenities Destroyed (Robert H. Treman State Park) 1935
Enfield Glen Reservation, now Robert H. Treman State Park (renamed in 1938), suffered extensive damage during horrific flooding in the heavy rains of July 1935. Beginning in 1933, young men from the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps program worked at the park, doing masonry work, planting trees, shrubs and grass, building roads, bridges, and water systems, and erecting park buildings. After the disastrous flooding in 1935, they were brought back to repair the damaged facilities that had only just been recently completed....IMAGE 1: The ruined bathhouse and Enfield Glen near Ithaca. The swimming pool was entirely destroyed and the creek changed course. 1935. IMAGE 2: Robert H. Treman Park - ca. early 1930s.IMAGE 3: The Old Mill - ca. early 1920s.Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
Newfield Historical Society - 'Newfield Storms, Floods, and Other Local Natural Disasters' Exhibit
The Newfield Historical Society’s current (as of 2022) exhibit features Newfield Storms, floods and other local natural disasters from the region. They are open the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month from 10-2 at 192 Main Street.Hurricane Agnes (1972) was one of the largest June hurricanes on record, according to the National Weather Service. As it moved north from the Gulf of Mexico up to the Carolinas it combined with another weather system to bring very heavy rain for an extended period. Parts of the Southern Tier, such as Corning and Elmira were inundated, and while Tompkins County didn't suffer quite as badly, flooding was still severe. Newfield Depot Road had to be closed due to high water.Due to flood warnings community crews placed sandbags around the Newfield Meadowbrook Trailer Park and Jim Ray's Trailer Park near Route 96. A bridge to the back entrance of Jim Ray's Trailer Park was torn down in the days following the floods because of the excess of trees and debris caught on the bridge. Residents of the 66-home park never had to evacuate due to the '72 floods (an improvement from more extensive flooding that had happened at this site in 1970!)....**The History Center archives do not currently (as of 2022) include any photographs of the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flood in Tompkis County. Potential donors are encouraged to contact archives@thehistorycenter.net.IMAGE 2: 2022 - Newfield ExhibitIMAGE 2: Photo of Painted Post NY late in the day on June 23, 1972 featuring a rescue boat gathering stranded residents. Chemung Historical SocietyIMAGE 3: Ithaca Journal Clipping, June 26th 1972.Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
Re-building Jennings Pond - 1988
Jennings Pond in Danby was originally created in 1895 as a reservoir for the City of Ithaca's water supply, (although it was never used for that function), and has been used for recreational purposes for many years. In the 1930s the New York State Park Commission created an earthen and flashboard dam on the pond to control the flow of water into Buttermilk Creek. In 1987 state engineers were doing repair work on the dam and spring rains created pressure on it, causing it to collapse, "sending a wall of water 25 to 30 feet high coursing through Danby, causing property damage and near loss of life," according to The Towns of Tompkins County.IMAGE 1: Jennings Pond. IMAGE 2: Ithaca Journal Clipping, June 9th 1988. Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
Brooktondale Community Lends a Hand in 1972 Flood Relief Efforts
In 1972 Hurricane Agnes became one of the most destructive hurricanes in US history, with 117 lives lost and more than $3 billion in damages across 12 states. Some of the worst damage was in New York's Southern Tier, especially in Corning and Elmira. In Brooktondale the flooding was so severe that it broke through an old railroad grade above Middaugh Road and created a 60-foot deep chasm.Fire departments from Brooktondale, Varna, Freeville, and Lansing had to help homeowners across the county pump out flooded basements and cellars for weeks following the hurricane rains. ...IMAGE 1: Early Brooktondale image. IMAGE 2: Ithaca Journal - June 22nd 1972. Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
Drenched in Dryden - 1901
In December 1901 an unusual combination of rain, sleet and snow caused an unprecedented rise in local creeks and caused devastating flooding throughout the eastern part of the county. More than a quarter of a million dollars in damage was reported throughout the county, but thankfully no lives were lost. In Dryden, a dam burst on Dryden Lake, sending roaring waters through Fall Creek and destroying bridges near the village. On the second day of flooding, in the Dryden Weekly Herald office water was reported to be three feet deep....IMAGE 1: Etna, West Side (1897, Photo by Silcox).IMAGE 2: Dryden Weekly Herald, Front Page, December 18 1901. Courtesy Southworth Library Digital Archives, 2022.IMAGE 3: Dryden Weekly Herald, 'Damage in the Town' Front Page, December 18 1901. Courtesy Southworth Library Digital Archives, 2022.LISTEN HERE
The Inlet Floods Groton 1935
Owasco Inlet runs near the village of Groton, and during the devastating rains of July 1935 it overflowed its banks, flooding the village streets. Most of Main Street and Cayuga Street were under water, and people were forced to use a rope and pulley to safely move from inundated buildings to safety....IMAGE 1: Men walking and horse drawn carriage on a flooded street. 1935. IMAGE 2: Flooded intersection in Groton, 1935. A flooded intersection with buildings in the background with signs advertising machines. A sign sticking out of the water in the foreground advertises, "Ford, Ames Motor Company, Authorized Ford and Fordson Dealers."Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
Hurricane Hazel Overturns Boats, Planes, and Cars in 1954
Hurricane Hazel swept through Tompkins County and all of Western New York in October of 1954, leaving a death toll of over 20 in New York state alone. In addition to the lives lost, many buildings and homes suffered extensive damage. An airplane at the East Hill Airport was even turned over. Other local damages included a parked car crushed by a falling tree, a roof blown off a milk house, fallen telegraph poles, and blown out windows.Some folks in Tompkins County still managed to find the positives in this great tragedy, with one family who needed a tree removed from their yard crediting the hurricane for saving them $200 dollars for tree removal services (cred. Ithaca Journal). There was also a baby girl born in the Tompkins County hospital during the middle of the storm. The power at the hospital went out briefly, but thankfully the lights came back on, and the birth appears to have been a success, (though this is not verifiable due to lack of newspaper coverage on this event).After ravaging New York State, Hazel would go on to Ontario and Quebec where it caused massive flooding in the Humber River, Holland Marsh, and Etobicoke Creek areas, causing major damage everywhere it landed. Hazel remains one of the devastating hurricanes to ever hit the Eastern United States, and the name "Hazel" has been officially retired as a storm name due to the extent of the destruction the 1954 storm caused....IMAGE 1: Plane overturned at East Hill Airport. Ithaca Journal Archives 1954.IMAGE 2: House Debris at N. Geneva St in Ithaca. Ithaca Journal Archives 1954.IMAGE 3: Wrecked Motorboat on East Shore of Cayuga Lake. Ithaca Journal Archives 1954.IMAGE 4: Car on top of house - Osmun Place. Ithaca Journal Archives 1954.LISTEN HERE
Lansing - Myers Park The Flood of '35
Salmon Creek runs westward through the hills of Lansing to Cayuga Lake, and beginning on the night of July 7th, 1935, after more than eight inches of heavy rain, it became a raging torrent that overflowed its banks. It destroyed a bridge with four people on it, sending them to their deaths. The force of the water was so strong that it moved a railroad bridge off its abutments and carried the railroad tracks almost 200 feet out of line with the bridge....IMAGE 1: Uprooted trees and branches by a narrow stream in Myers. 1935. Uprooted trees and strewn benches litter the bank of a shallow stream in the foreground, a larger tangle of branches straddles the water, with more in the background. The front of a house can be seen on the far bank, with mud on the wall and stairsIMAGE 2: Man on railroad bridge over Salmon Creek in Myers/Ludlowville. 1935. IMAGE 3: Fast flowing water over a low waterfall in Myers. 1935. A low waterfall bisects the page horizontally, the river running quickly above and below it. Fallen trees and logs stick out pf the water, with more along the bank. A light colored house is on the far bank.Images courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County, 2022.LISTEN HERE
