What were the impacts and damages to the Susquehanna River Basin from the January 1996 flash flood?
• 14 lives were lost. • More than $600 million in damages were suffered. The flood is considered the third worst in the basin’s history in terms of magnitude. • The Chesapeake Bay received the largest amounts of nutrients and sediments since the 1972 flood. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the streamflow during the flood were the highest January flows ever seen in the Susquehanna River. • The Conowingo Dam facility in Maryland recorded its second highest flow (909,000 cubic feet per second) with a peak stage of 34.18 feet. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, this was equivalent to having 27 large community swimming pools being filled each second–about 6.8 million gallons per second. • The formation or breakup of ice jams caused rises in river levels as much as 8 feet in an hour. • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ reservoirs held back 167 billion gallons of flood waters. This prevented more than $1.3 billion in additional damages. • The peak flow at Harrisburg, Pa., durin
