12 July 2020 FLOODED: A REQUIEM FOR JOHNSTOWN by Ann E. Burg, Scholastic Press, October 2020, 352p., ISBN: 978-1-338-54069-7

“And in a moment they were swept before the deluge”

-- Jackson Browne (1974)

“After the flood, survivors suffered a series of legal defeats in their attempts to recover damages from the dam’s owners. Public indignation at that failure prompted the development in American law changing a fault-based regime to one of strict liability.”

-- from Wikipedia, “Johnstown Flood”

GEORGE HOFFMAN

“It’s not the seasonal floods

that worry me, he continues.

It’s that dam. That dam’s weak.

One of these days it’s going to burst.

James Quinn--you know Quinn

he owns the dry goods store

on Clinton--

Well, Quinn says that dam bursts,

won’t matter

where we move that couch.

Ever see that big,

beautiful lake in the mountain?

No, sir, I lie.

Any idea how much water’s

in that lake?

No, sir.

Tons. Millions of tons. 

Ever see the South Fork Dam?

I shake my head.

Know how old it is?

No, sir.

Old. From before the war.

No way to remove surplus water either--

sluice pipes were sold

years ago.

Know what the breaches 

are stuffed with?

No, sir, I don’t.

Hemlock and hay.

Stumps and straw.

Mud and manure.

Mr. Ryan wipes his forehead

with the back of his hand.

That dam’s one sagging slop.

It ever gives way.

Johnstown’ll be wiped off the map.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Ryan nods for me to sit

while he carries a rocking chair

to a far corner of the room.

He’s still talking.

They’ve been warned--

Carnegie and his cohorts

Frick, Mellon, Elder,

all those fancy members

of the South Fork

Fishing and Hunting Club--

they’ve been warned for years.

They just don’t care.

Mark my words--

their self-serving folly

will destroy Johnstown!”

That poorly-maintained South Fork Dam failed on May 31, 1889. The resulting flood was responsible for the loss of over 2,200 lives and the destruction of Johnstown.

Back in 1889, Memorial Day was referred to as Decoration Day, in reference to the decoration of soldiers’ graves. The six teens who are the primary narrators of FLOODED are preparing both for summer and Decoration Day as the day of reckoning approaches. This Decoration Day is both memorable and rainy. The next day, as heavy rain continues, the dam collapses. George Hoffman, who narrates the above passage, did not survive.

 In crafting FLOODED, author Ann E. Burg used her research about the flood to name the young characters for real people. She then created fictitious dialogue and thoughts to complement what was known. In doing so, she puts a human face on this long-ago tragedy, in which robber barons who failed to keep up their property got away with murder.

While the sort of futures these six teens contemplate are now shadows in the distant past, today’s readers will relate to the characters’ friendships, crushes, aspirations, and family relationships.

The story continues well beyond the actual flood. Talk about wishing you’d said something when you had the chance! We hear not only from the survivors, but also from the numbered corpses who express regrets--for instance, as to how they didn’t adequately praise and reassure one of the main characters. We also see how the wealthy owners of the club successfully employed legal tricks to avoid liability for the disaster. 

We have learned something from the Johnstown tragedy. There are now standards for and monitoring of dams. Here in California, more than 180,000 people were evacuated in 2017 when the Oroville Dam’s spillways began to sustain damage in heavy rains. 

Since 1998, when Karen Hesse won the Newbery Medal for OUT OF THE DUST, there have been some terrific pieces of historical fiction presented in prose poetry. FLOODED is one of them.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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