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Description
As the rain poured down around his work train, Engineer John Hess wished he could be sheltered more than the small cab of his locomotive. The Conemaugh river was high above its usual banks, brown water swirling down towards the steel towns of East Conemaugh and Johnstown. Suddenly, a loud crashing sound could be heard up the valley, like that of a hurricane in the woods. John Hess's eyes widened as he remembered the South Fork Dam a few miles away. He threw his locomotive into reverse, and let out several long blasts on the whistle. People in East Conemaugh heard the whistles, and instinctively knew something must be wrong. Hess's locomotive barely came to a stop before he jumped out of his locomotive. "Run for the Hills! The dam has broken!" Moments later, a wall of water and debris crashed into the water soaked towns of the East Conemaugh and Johnstown, resulting in the deaths of 2,209 people. If it weren't for the warning of John Hess, the death tool may have been even higher.
www.jaha.org/edu/flood/story/p…

Description
As the rain poured down around his work train, Engineer John Hess wished he could be sheltered more than the small cab of his locomotive. The Conemaugh river was high above its usual banks, brown water swirling down towards the steel towns of East Conemaugh and Johnstown. Suddenly, a loud crashing sound could be heard up the valley, like that of a hurricane in the woods. John Hess's eyes widened as he remembered the South Fork Dam a few miles away. He threw his locomotive into reverse, and let out several long blasts on the whistle. People in East Conemaugh heard the whistles, and instinctively knew something must be wrong. Hess's locomotive barely came to a stop before he jumped out of his locomotive. "Run for the Hills! The dam has broken!" Moments later, a wall of water and debris crashed into the water soaked towns of the East Conemaugh and Johnstown, resulting in the deaths of 2,209 people. If it weren't for the warning of John Hess, the death tool may have been even higher.
www.jaha.org/edu/flood/story/p…