DREHER TOWNSHIP -- A devastating flood in Wayne County that killed 11 people 60 years ago is being remembered.
Those 11 names were read out loud on a sunny late summer day in Carlton Drake Memorial Park in Newfoundland as people thought back to the flood of 1955, a deadly and devastating flood that hit the area without warning.
“It happened at night. It rained terribly for weeks, then the second coming so soon afterwards is what devastated the whole area,” said Jeanne Brown, president of the Greene-Dreher Historical Society.
Old photos in a new book about the flood show what was left behind when the creeks rose after Hurricane Diane drenched the region in mid-August that year. The historical society held a ceremony unveiling a new sign remembering the flood.
“It’s just important for everyone to remember the devastation that came through here and the courage that it took to survive and rebuild,” added Brown.
60 years ago when the Wallenpaupack Creek overflowed its banks, it left a trail of destruction throughout the Newfoundland area. Local officials said there are dams in place in hopes of preventing that sort of destruction from happening again.
“Three houses, three families. We lived together in the sense you ran in and out of houses and shared things,” said Janice Smith Rohlf.
She was 13 when the flood hit, killing her mother and neighbors. Thinking back, Smith Rohlf said it's still hard to comprehend the flood and said it's important to always remember the lives lost.
“It is also important to remember this community that pulled together so strongly afterwards,” she said.
The sign was donated and will stand at the site of that flood for generations to come.