"Reads like a nail-biting thriller." - Library Journal,starred review A gripping new history celebrating the remarkable heroes of the Johnstown Flood-the deadliest flood in U.S. history-from NBC host and legendary weather authority Al Roker Central Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889: After a deluge of rain-nearly a foot in less than twenty-four hours-swelled the Little Conemaugh River, panicked engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened...

Sixteen-year-old Celestia is a wealthy member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, where she meets and falls in love with Peter, a hired hand who lives in the valley below, and by the time of the torrential rains that lead to the disastrous Johnstown flood of 1889, she has been disowned by her family and is staying with him in Johnstown. Includes an author's note and historical timeline.

At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hard-working families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity: among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite...

On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam built to create a man-made lake for America's wealthiest businessmen collapsed, unleashing twenty million tons of water onto the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, below; told in the voices of six children and many others this is the story of the ordinary people of the town, their losses and their survival--and of the bitter aftermath when those for whom the dam was built denied all responsibility for the shoddy dam...

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889 was a lively, working-class factory city. Above the soot-soaked streets, an elite fishing and hunting club, built on a pristine man-made lake, drew America's wealthiest business barons. Though repeatedly urged to fix the deteriorating dam that held the lake, the club members disregarded the warnings. And when heavy rains came, the dam collapsed and plunged the city into chaos. On that fateful day, six children found...