On
Wednesday, June 21, 1972, the rains from Hurricane Agnes began to fall on the
Twin Tiers. By the next day, the Chemung River was at 15 feet in Elmira, local
creeks were overflowing, and people all throughout the region had begun
evacuating their homes. On June 23, the river overtopped the dikes in Elmira
and surged through the city’s streets, submerging businesses and homes under
feet of turbulent, muddy water. Local first responders and the National Guard
rushed to evacuate hospitals and rescue as many people as possible from the
raging flood waters. Through it all, the Mark Twain Hotel in downtown Elmira became a refuge, but not everyone got out alive.
Aerial view of Elmira, June 1972 |
Roseanne
M. Whitted and Nancy Rios were both working at the Mark Twain Hotel during the
Flood of 1972. Our archive has an oral history recording of them telling about
that time. Roseanne remembered working in the Connecticut Yankee Lounge in the
hotel and repeatedly checking to see if the flood waters were rising. “We were
basically going to the Grey Street entrance not thinking of the North Main
Street entrance where the water would come in first. Then when that appeared it was like ‘Oh, my G-d!’”
When the water started coming inside, patrons helped her start moving things
out of the lounge and upstairs to protect them from the rising flood.
Both
Roseanne and Nancy lived at the hotel as part of their compensation for working
there and so they became stranded with the rest of the guests when downtown
went under water. Nancy recalled that they did not get evacuated because it
wasn’t considered necessary. “We felt safe the whole time that we were there,”
she said. Since the power was out, all the food in the big refrigerators and
freezers in the hotel had to be cooked. Fortunately, there were gas burners in
the kitchen so that could be done, and it gave guests and staff fresh food to
eat on top of the supply of C-rations that were delivered to the hotel by boat.
They spent a lot of time playing cards, hanging out in the lobby, and
conversing with the guests because there was nothing else to do.
View down Gray Street toward the Mark Twain Hotel as the flood raged |
Others,
who weren’t already guests at the hotel, went to it to take refuge from the
rising waters. 25-year-old Richard Wein of Williamsport, Pennsylvania checked
into the hotel with his wife and two young children after a harrowing
experience. While fleeing from their home, their car got caught in flood
waters. Richard was able to get his family onto higher ground but had to
abandon their car. They hitchhiked to Elmira where they found shelter at the
Mark Twain Hotel.
Edward
M. McNulty and his wife Edna check into the hotel at 3:30am on June 23 to
escape the impending flood. Just two and
a half hours later, Edward suffered a heart attack and died in their room. Edward
was a well-respected man in the community and served as executive director of
the Chemung County Council of Alcoholism. He was 62 years old. At 8:00am that
same morning, the dikes overtopped, and the hotel was surrounded by raging
waters. Everyone became trapped inside, including Edna and her dearly departed
husband. It was not until the next day when the flood waters receded that they
were able to leave.
All
those who had been holed up at the Mark Twain Hotel during the flood were sent
on their way as soon as possible. Even those who had been living and working
there like Roseanne and Nancy were forced to leave as the devastated city went
into lockdown and a curfew was put in place. Cleaning and repairs to the hotel
began almost immediately as the building was to continue serving as a refuge
for those affected by the flood. The Federal Housing and Urban Development
Agency (HUD) leased the second and third floors of the hotel to be used as
homes for displaced flood victims over the age of 60. The senior housing
officially opened just one month after the flood on July 24, 1972.
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