Keith Mayer: 30 years before Agnes there was another epic flood in Reading

May 13—Thirty years before the Agnes episode of flooding in Berks County, there was a previous "flood of the century" of the Schuylkill River.

It was 80 years ago in the early months of World War II when Pearl Harbor was still a current event, "Mrs. Miniver" was a few weeks away from its debut in theaters and filming of "Casablanca" was just getting started.

The rapid rise and fall of the river May 22-24, 1942, is among the highest crests at Penn Street, and the lower sections of the city were inundated.

One person was found dead in Reading when the waters receded.

The body of Ralph H. Cole, 49, a shop owner who lived in the 1100 block of Locust Street was found against a cement block at the foot of Chestnut Street, according to the May 24 Reading Eagle.

The days before the flood were a rainy period but the 4.08 inches that fell officially in Reading on May 22 was the immediate catalyst for the flood, with the river cresting at 22 feet on May 23, to date the fifth-highest crest on record.

However, by midnight, the river had already dropped to 15 feet, and by morning on the 24th the Pennsylvania Railroad was preparing to resume normal operations at the train station at the foot of Penn Street.

Interestingly, three of the five highest historical crests occurred on a "2" year. The others are the flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972, and snow melt and deluges in 1902.

The other two in the top five are from 2006 and 1850.

An amazing episode was recorded by the Reading Eagle during the flooding.

Romeo Robidaux, the secretary of the Reading Archery Club, fired an arrow with a rope attached to it from a hotel at Front and Spruce streets to workers above the floodwaters at the Textile Chemical Works across Front Street.

It took some doing, but the 22 workers made it to safety.

The immediate catalyst for the flooding was the rain on May 21-22, but there was more: very heavy rains to the north.

U.S. Weather Bureau meteorologist L.F. Conover, based in Harrisburg, in his May 1942 wrap-up wrote of deluges to the north with the area around Honesdale in Wayne County seeing particularly heavy devastation.

There were 24 people dead or missing there.

"The flood swept homes and bridges away," Conover wrote. "... and washed (away) farms, destroying crops and killing livestock.

"Industries were forced to close down because of the high water; many families were driven from their homes; drinking water was contaminated; and food stores were destroyed."

All of that rain to the north swelled rivers as they flowed south.

Conover called the crest at Penn Street "the third highest stage of record, since 1757, of the Schuylkill River at Reading."

Conover's May 1942 wrap talks about the heavy flooding in the Honesdale area and the high crests of the Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna rivers, though only the Reading crest seemed historic.

"I remember during the pre-Agnes era that this was the flood along the Schuylkill River vicinity of Reading the then-middle-age and older folks talked about and compared," said Berks weather historian Jeffrey R. Stoudt, a retired meteorologist. "Unlike Agnes, which was state- and region-wide, this flood was really severe only in the Schuylkill basin, and perhaps the Lehigh basin."

In 1942, there were meteorologists in center city with the Weather Bureau who kept meticulous records.

Charles S. Ling took over an office in the newly constructed post office at Fifth and Court streets on Feb. 23, 1940.

The office had been atop the courthouse, and had only been there since 1932 when the courthouse was completed.

Wind instruments remained atop the courthouse.

The 1940s were a relatively benign weather period in Berks, notwithstanding the 1942 flood. There were no snowfalls of even 15 inches measured during the entire decade.

Many of the spring months remain in lofty spots in the rankings of warmest months at that time of year. There are few examples of the kind of brutal cold that were common in the first decade of last century and the 1970s and '80s.

May 1942 remains the sixth wettest May on record at an official site in Berks at 9.29 inches.

It's also the 11th warmest May at 66 degrees. At the time, it came in at No. 3. Two years later, May 1944 finished at 68.4 degrees, and is still No. 1.

Berks precipitation data start with 1869 and temperature data date to 1898.

Top crests of the Schuylkill River at Reading

31.3 feet: June 22, 1972

26.3 feet: June 28, 2006

26.2 feet: Sept. 2, 1850

23.2 feet: Feb. 28, 1902

22 feet: May 23, 1942

21.3 feet: Aug. 24, 1933

20.7 feet: October 1786

18.06 feet: Aug. 19, 1955

Source: U.S. Weather Bureau/National Weather Service