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 August of 2011
I was a 3 year old at that time, but I recall the stories. One in particular, was when my Father was working in the Poconos and drove a very full carload of people back from their work and he went over a washed out bridge, which he got out and gave it a quick look before deciding to ford, and after getting over it, he saw the thing collapse in his rear view mirror... talk about luck!
ReplyDeletemj adams
ReplyDeleteI was four years old. The immediate aftermath of the flood are my first memories.
Pretty severe hurricane. Had to be because of climate change.
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