WASHINGTON, May 31, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
HISTORIC DELUGE
Profile America — Sunday, May 31st. One of the worst calamities to hit the U.S. happened on this date in 1889 — the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Flood. Torrential rains caused a nearby artificial lake to spill over and weaken its earthen dam. When the dam broke, it unleashed 20 million tons of water in a giant wave that roared through Johnstown, killing more than 2,300 men, women and children, and destroying the homes of thousands more. The flood remains one of the nation's most costly, single weather-related disasters. While tornadoes often take more lives, flooding is a constant threat to life. An annual average of 85 deaths occurred in the years between 1984 and 2013. Johnstown has been spared since 1977, when 85 died. Currently, almost 21,000 people make Johnstown their home. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.
Sources:
Johnstown 1889 flood: www.jaha.org/FloodMuseum/history.html
Johnstown 1936 & 1977 floods: http://www.jaha.org/FloodMuseum/1936.html
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats/images/hazstat-chart13-lg.gif
Population: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_13_5YR_S0101&prodType=table
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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