The "50th Anniversary Of Tropical Storm Agnes" Story

It was an ordinary day.  July 4, 1972 and the aftermath of Tropical Storm Agnes had just passed, leaving story after story to be told by everyone who lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I have written before about my wife and I heading to Pitney Road in Eastern Lancaster to help my Aunt Lillian move all her furniture to higher ground before the rising waters of the Conestoga covered all but the top few feet of her chimney.  At the time I knew the storm was bad, but not quite as bad as it proved to be according to the Lancaster Newspaper the following few days.  Story after story told of houses being destroyed or friends and neighbors losing their lives due to the Tropical Storm.  Being this is the 50th Anniversary of the destructive storm, our local newspaper printed in their Sunday, July 3 issue, a variety of stories telling about not only tragedy and doom, but stories of neighbor helping neighbor and even a story of love.  On June 23 of 1972 a young 18 year old young man named Bob was part of a crew that entered a home in nearby Columbia, PA to help pump the water from the basement of the home.  While they worked, Bob noticed a 17 year old young girl named Sylvia who lived in the home.  He and his buddies made a bet on who could ask her out first for a date.  She evidently said no to all of them, but Bob kept asking and asking.  He asked her out for five months until one of Sylvia's friends told her "Just go out with him already, just one time."  They went bowling!  Well, Sylvia graduated from high school the following year and got married on June 23, 1973, the day after she graduated.  Today they have two children living in Lancaster and a few grandchildren.  Another story told of a young woman who lived on a farm along the Conestoga River.  They had watched many floods over the years, but this one was different.  The water was relentless and slowly climbed up the sides of the white barn until it crested at the second floor window.  The high water mark was 28 feet above the riverbank.  The cleanup was another story according to them.  One final story told about a fellow who was on a job assignment in Marion, Indiana when the rain and flooding hit Lancaster County.  He had been sent to Marion by RCA Corp. to help assist other engineers in product development.  When the storm came, he was on the phone hourly with his spouse to check on flooding.  Local fire companies were attempting to keep the houses from flooding.  But, they couldn't keep up with the storm.   Management said he should return to Lancaster immediately to check on the safety of his home and family.  He caught the last plane back to Lancaster before the airport closed due to flooding.  His home was covered with just 6 inches of water.  I can still remember some water in our basement on Janet Avenue in Lancaster, PA, but I guess we were some of the lucky ones during Agnes.  So glad my memories weren't  as bad as many of the stories in my Sunday Newspaper today.  I guess my wife Carol and I were some of the few lucky ones who survived with very little damage.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.