# Canonical recap data for Johnstown Flood Disaster (1889)
# Source: https://recap.at/1889/johnstown-flood
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: johnstown-flood
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1889/johnstown-flood"
title: Johnstown Flood Disaster
subtitle: A catastrophic dam failure killed over 2,000 people in western Pennsylvania, making it the deadliest disaster in U.S. history at the time and spurring dam safety reform.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1889-05-31
datePrecision: day
year: 1889
decade: 1880
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: The Johnstown Flood, sometimes referred to locally as the Great Flood of 1889, occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. The dam rupture
summaryLong: The Johnstown Flood, sometimes referred to locally as the Great Flood of 1889, occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. The dam ruptured after several days of extremely heavy rainfall, releasing 14.55 million cubic meters of water. With a volumetric flow rate that temporarily equaled the average flow rate of the Mississippi River, the flood killed 2,208 people and accounted for US$17 million in damage.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Johnstown_Tree_in_House.jpg/1280px-Johnstown_Tree_in_House.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Johnstown Flood"
importance: 73
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood"
  title: Johnstown Flood
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- disaster
metaDescription: The Johnstown Flood, sometimes referred to locally as the Great Flood of 1889, occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South For
wikidataQid: Q691404
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260702074030/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood"
  capturedAt: 2026-07-02
  label: Johnstown Flood
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood"
