MANSFIELD - The flooding that came with Hurricane Agnes hit Tioga County hard, particularly towns and villages along the Tioga River and its tributaries.
In the days before the Tioga-Hammond and Cowanesque dam projects, the water could not be stopped, and so it just overflowed and took out many homes, businesses and caused millions of dollars in damage.
Most people didn't know just how bad it would get as the rains fell, because the county had seen heavy rain and flooding of low lying areas before.
Many residents just went about their business that day, despite a state of emergency that was declared by Gov. Milton Shapp after nearly two weeks of non-stop rain.
Diana Holliday of Wellsboro recently shared her memories of the flood.
"Brad's grandparents Delos and Grace Whiting lived in Ansonia and had an outhouse all their lives," she said.
"When the flood hit, the water took their outhouse and was almost to the second floor. We helped them salvage what they could ... it was such a mess ... It took a long time to get their house liveable again," she said.
Terry Mickey of Mansfield recalls being a fireman for the Wellsboro fire department.
"I drove an Army 6x6 to Middlebury Center to rescue Ralph Antrim's invalid mother through water that covered the seat in the truck," he said.
Steve Heinrich of Jessup, whose father was a contractor was hired to clean flood debris from the backyard of the McMillen's," referring to Tom McMillen, a star basketball player at Mansfield who graduated in 1970.
"It appeared to be a mobile home that had floated in and was flattened out." he added. Actually there was a great deal of additional debris underneath the mobile home. But what I remember most is that when I got the trailer cleared out, there was a Volkswagen bug under it. Never did find out whose it was."
Heinrich said he hauled numerous loads of flood debris to the dump.
"The load would be dripping mud, the truck and I were covered in it," he said. "When I drove past the (Mansfield) college girls, they would all stop, smile and wave.
"Very ego-boosting for a high school senior. But that night after I got cleaned up, the same girls would not even look at me."
