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Lots of sunshine. High 81F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..
Clear skies. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.
Pumper trucks spray water trapped along Sycamore Avenue back over the dikes into the Allegheny River days after the Hurricane Agnes flooding.
A man surveys the flooded lot east of Main Street in Salamanca from what is today the parking lot of the Holy Cross Athletic Club on Clinton Street.
Pumper trucks spray water trapped along Sycamore Avenue back over the dikes into the Allegheny River days after the Hurricane Agnes flooding.
SALAMANCA — Thursday, June 22, 1972 — what many Salamanca residents will never forget as the day Hurricane Agnes came calling, spreading destruction from the Hudson Valley all the way to Lake Erie.
In the midst of the devastating flood waters sat the city of Salamanca along the Allegheny River. Its police station and fire station were underwater. All three bridges in the city were closed as water flowed across them leaving huge areas of the city cut off.
Salamanca resident Paul Bozard remembers the flood in vivid detail. He recalls how the flood became a catastrophe and progressed before his very eyes.
At the time of the flood, Bozard was a police officer at Allegany State Park. He was on patrol that night when the Salamanca Police Department called the park police for assistance.
Back then, the Salamanca police department was located on the ground floor of the old city hall. Bozard said the police officers had to abandon their station due to high water, so they didn’t have a place to dispatch their cars.
“The park police had a portable radio about suitcase size that was worn in a backpack,” he said. “We brought that over from the park and set up a temporary police station at the former hospital building on Academy Street.”
Bozard remembers standing behind the city hall on Front Avenue, looking at the dikes. He watched the water go from a little wisp over the top to a steady stream. Then the water started to cascade over the dikes like a waterfall.
“Think of those dikes being 12 feet tall, and we’re standing there looking at them,” he recalled. “Just think of the water that was behind those dikes and for it to be spilling over them.”
Joan Budzinski said her parents lived on River Street and had to evacuate their home. She said they came to stay at her house in Kill Buck.
“The water was up to Depot Street off of River,” she said. “Their house didn’t get flooded, but the utilities were a danger.”
A man surveys the flooded lot east of Main Street in Salamanca from what is today the parking lot of the Holy Cross Athletic Club on Clinton Street.
AS THE FLOOD raged on, the Main Street bridge was battered by floating debris and small buildings that had washed away. Bozard said the street lamps on the bridge were swaying back and forth as the force of the water tossed everything about.
Everybody was pretty confident the dikes were going to protect them, in spite of all the flood warnings, Bozard said, so many were surprised when they got a knock on the door and were ordered to evacuate.
“Later on, I heard the water was moving in excess of 40 MPH,” he said. “The force of the water hit the bridge girders causing a rooster tail effect and flew 15 to 20 feet in the air. When the water came back down, it hit the pavement blasting big chunks of blacktop up into the air.”
Lorraine Prusinowski said her brother, Eugene Puval, owned a home on the short stretch of Front Avenue. She said the water came over onto Sycamore Avenue and up to Front Avenue. They had to evacuate the people in that home because Sycamore was underwater.
Bozard said it was a rapidly changing situation. Water was flooding East Race Street and Clinton Street was rapidly becoming underwater. He said police and fire personnel spent the rest of the night rescuing people. They took some out of their homes by boat, and they strung heavy ropes along East Race for people to hang on to as they left their apartments.
Wildwood Avenue was flooded, especially at the underpass, and the underpass on North Main Street was underwater. He said the flood waters extended all the way up to the intersection of Broad, Main and Clinton streets. On the north side of the river, the water was all the way to the intersection of Wildwood, River and Main streets.
Rose Stone was about 12 years old and lived with her father on Adams Street. Their house was on the other side of the river from her grandmother and step-grandfather, Matilda and George Haas, who lived on Water Street that was once located in the Crowley Community Park area.
“We couldn’t get to them because the flood waters totally separated the town,” she said. “(The rescue crew) wouldn’t let them stay in the house and made them leave by boat.”
(Contact press reporter Deb Everts at salpressdeb@gmail.com)
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