In 1889, a torrential storm drenched the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, area. On May 31, the rain-swollen waters of Lake Conemaugh rose throughout the day until it eventually overtopped and breached the earthen dam. All of the water from Lake Conemaugh rushed forward, sweeping away everything in its path. Thousands were killed. The disaster was soon named the Johnstown Flood. In this course, examine the series of errors and miscommunications that led to this avoidable disaster. The participants will also learn about more recent dam failures and near failures and compare those to the Johnstown experience.

Instructor: Peggy Johnson is an emerita civil engineering professor and dean from Penn State, where she conducted research and taught in the areas of flooding and erosion at bridges, hydraulic engineering, and stream restoration design. She served as head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2006 to 2015 and then went on to become the Dean of the Schreyer Honors College until she retired in 2021. Now in retirement, she hopes to share her interests and experiences through teaching for OLLI.