May 31: Johnstown Flood

On this date in History .... May 31, 1889:  

The worst flood in U.S. history happened at Johnstown PA.  

The Schultz House
(Photo compliments of Jaha.org)

57 minutes after the dam burst, the raging waters with a 40ft high wave, traveling at 40mph and 60 ft deep, hit Johnstown 14 miles away, killing 2209, the largest loss of civilian life at the time. Over 750 victims were never identified and rest in the “Plot of the Unknown”. It swept several locomotives away, some as far as 4800 ft (that’s almost a mile for those who are mathematically impaired).  

The Schultz house, shown in this photo, is one of the most famous photos of the disaster. All six people who were in the house survived. 

Clara Barton was one of the 1^st outsiders to arrive, her newly formed American Red Cross leading their first major non-wartime disaster relief effort. She remained for 5 months. 

The Stone Bridge ... it still exists today.

.

Many survived the flood, only to die in the fire on the debris that got hung up at the stone bridge. The debris included houses, locomotives, train cars, trees .... and human beings.




Because the bursting of the dam was considered an act of God, the residents failed in their suit for monetary compensation, which prompted  a major development in American law—state courts' move from a fault-based regime to strict liability. 

The flood is referenced in many fictional books, including John Jakes “The Kent Family Chronicles”. 

March 15: First Blood Bank

On this date in History ... 1937:
The first blood bank was opened at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Before the technology that preserved blood came along, transfusions had to be done vein-to-vein.  Russians had worked with using cadaveric blood (blood from cadavers) to store and re-use.  Inspired by this work by the Russians, Bernard Fantus at Cook County established the first U.S. blood storage, and thus the term “blood bank” was born.

Some facts about blood donation and blood needs:

·         O-negative blood can be received by anyone of any blood type.  This makes O-negative donors the most valuable blood donor.  Because it has such a high demand, there is frequently a shortage of the O-negative supply.

·         O-negative people can only receive O-negative blood.  This makes O-negative people a very high risk group as, unlike other blood types, they cannot receive any other type of blood except their own type.

·         7% of blood donors are O-negative.

·         There are about 10 million donors in a year to service a population of over 300 million.

·         A single car-accident-victim can use as much as 100 pints of blood.

·         Blood cannot be manufactured … it can only be donated.

·         The American Red Cross supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood supply.