| On August 18, 1955 hurricanes Connie and Diane | | | | totally uprooted by the flood and left with nothing, even |
| passed through the Delaware valley area dropping | | | | drinking water and food had to be brought in. Roads, |
| over 8" of rain. Rushing water swept through the | | | | where washed away and much of the local |
| valley carrying with it homes, bridges, and debris. With | | | | infrastructure had to be rebuilt. |
| little warning the Delaware River flooded creating | | | | The economy suffered a major blow. Probably one of |
| havoc as a result. | | | | the worst hit areas was in New Jersey. The local |
| As the river swelled it became necessary to evacuate | | | | paper mill suffered damages in excess of one million |
| two camps located on Treasure Island and Pennington | | | | dollars and was closed for over a month while it was |
| Island. Five hundred children from the camps had to be | | | | being repaired. |
| airlifted to safety. Fortunately there were no deaths | | | | In the Milford area damages were estimated at one |
| associated with this disaster. Yet much damage to the | | | | hundred and thirty two thousand dollars and in |
| local economy did result. | | | | Frenchtown the estimated damages where thought to |
| The flowing river lifted up and swept away the | | | | be almost half a million dollars. Businesses had to be |
| Byram-Point Bridge. Four homes located in Byram, | | | | rebuilt. Local utilities had to be brought back online and |
| where the water swelled to heights above the | | | | many people had to wait to go back to work while |
| rooftops, were swept away. Upper Black Eddy, | | | | their work places where repaired. |
| Pennsylvania was probably the worst hit region in the | | | | The loss of revenue and critical information and data |
| area. Hundreds of local residents where left homeless | | | | was enormous, even in this "pre-digital" time. |
| and over a thousand people needed the food and | | | | Flooding in low-lying areas has been a problem for |
| water delivered by the Red Cross after the waters | | | | many years. In some cases even insurance |
| finally receded. Even the Black Eddy post office was | | | | companies have decided not to cover losses as a |
| washed away. | | | | result of flooding, because living in a flood zone is a |
| Two hundred local families had to be evacuated. Local | | | | matter of personal choice. Despite the risks, |
| government health officials, worried that typhoid might | | | | companies need to be located in these low-lying areas |
| become a problem, decided to inoculate all area | | | | either to service local populations or to access needed |
| residents at a significant cost. Many families were | | | | resources. The only answer is to be properly prepared. |