Hurricane Diane hit the Lehigh Valley in August of 1955. Living in Little Lehigh Manor, I remember huddling in the house, while the metal garbage cans of the era flew around the neighborhood. My father, whose meat market was on Union Street by the Lehigh River, worked throughout the night. Fortunately for him, his market had an second floor backup cooler, and a small freight elevator. While the retail business district on Hamilton Street is elevated enough to be unaffected from flooding, center city Easton was devastated by the Delaware. The next morning was rather surreal for a nine year old boy. A large willow tree on the corner of Lehigh Parkway South and Catalina Ave. was lying on its side. Although the Little Lehigh receded quickly, the park road and basin had been flooded. Diane remains a record in flooding and damage. Let us hope it remains that way.
photo from August 1955. Lehigh River rising by former A&B Meats. The row of houses shown were demolished to make way for a new bridge approach several years later.
reprinted from previous years
I remember that flood very well, it was amazing for a young person to witness, I think it is still the worst flooding for this area in history, way before the time of climate change etc.
ReplyDeleteI was also very young when this occurred and we were living in Stroudsburg. Fortunately our house was on top of a hill. But the surrounding neighborhoods were devastated. I have the newspapers from then.
ReplyDeleteMy Father took our family up to the Stroudsburg area after the storm and I remember Army type pontoon bridges being used .
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