Survivors recount story of Bradys Bend flood on 45th anniversary
Nearly half a century later, the memories of Aug. 14, 1980, are still etched in the minds of the survivors of the once-in-10,000-years flood in Bradys Bend Township.
That day, nine people lost their lives and dozens of families lost their homes as a result of the flood, which survivors say came out of nowhere and left permanent scars on the Armstrong County community.
“Bradys Bend is a really small community,” said Lisa O. Zumstein, who recently completed a book about the disaster. Zumstein and her family lived in Bradys Bend at the time of the flood. “Everybody's either related to one another by blood or marriage.”
Current Bradys Bend Township Supervisor Frank Bratkovich, who was 18 at the time, remembers precisely where he was on Aug. 14, 1980.
“Four or five of my friends came up here, and we were playing cards,” Bratkovich said. “It just kept raining, and it kept raining, and it kept raining. And pretty soon there’s big streams of water.”
Bratkovich’s residence was away from the worst of the flood, but he and one of his friends went outside with a flashlight during the night and realized that they weren’t going to be leaving anytime soon.
“We just stood in amazement, because that creek, which is 15 feet wide, was probably 150 feet wide and 3 or 4 feet deep. It consumed the road,” Bratkovich said. “You had to shout in someone’s ear for them to hear you.”
Bratkovich’s friends were trapped and had to stay the night at his place. Ultimately, the residence only received flooding damage to the basement, although Bratkovich’s father spent the night trapped in a building at the oil refinery in Karns City where he worked.
“We suffered an inconvenience,” Bratkovich said. “Our basement was flooded, but compared to a loss of life or a loss of everything, that was minimal.”
Silvio Andreassi, now 90 years old, was at home with his family when they suddenly found themselves in the middle of a disaster area.
“It was probably around 9 p.m. in the evening when the weather started coming, and we couldn’t get out of the house. It happened so fast,” Andreassi said. “We moved everything out of the first floor and the basement.”
While the Andreassi home managed to stay on its foundation, everything on their first floor and basement was totally submerged.
“I lost the garage and two cars,” Andreassi said. “There was a lot of creaking going on, but the house stayed here.”
Not all the houses in Bradys Bend were able to stand up to the flood.
Along Route 68 is a memorial with the names of the nine people who lost their lives during the flood. Five of them were swept away when the home of Elrick and Bertha Custer was torn from its foundation, taking the couple along with their grandchild, Jerry, and two others who had sought shelter in the home.
One of those was Betty Kaufman, who was on her way home from a bingo game at the East Brady fire hall. The other was Rimersburg resident Carol Lege, a teacher at Union High School.
Another who sought shelter there — Calvin Deemer, Carol’s boyfriend — managed to survive by clinging to a tree limb.
“Their cars flooded out. They went to that house to seek shelter, and that’s when that house was taken away and everybody in it,” Bratkovich said.
Three others — Butch Robinson, his wife, Betty Ellen, and their 4-year-old daughter, Amy — climbed onto the roof of their truck before it was flipped over by the rushing water. All three drowned.
Another, 67-year-old Toni Crissman, was found dead in her flooded home on Seybertown Road.
Although Zumstein lived in Bradys Bend, she escaped the disaster — she was out of town on the day of the flood.
“I was at summer school at Penn State,” Zumstein said. “I didn’t learn about it until the next day.”
Zumstein initially learned of the disaster from a radio news report, before frantically calling her mother in Bradys Bend to check on the status of her family — her parents and eight siblings. She still remembers the haunting words she heard over the phone.
“My mother answered the phone, and she said to me, ‘Bradys Bend is no more,’” Zumstein said. “I’ll never forget what she said that day.”
Zumstein later found out how her family managed to survive the flood. This included her brother Jim, who was at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church when the storm began. According to the book, when he realized the severity of the storm, he rushed home to retrieve his pregnant bloodhound.
“My brother was doing some errands, so he ended up at the church and the rest of my family didn’t know he was safe until the early morning hours,” Zumstein said.
Those who experienced and survived the flood say the residents of Bradys Bend had zero warning that a flood of such magnitude was coming. In fact, according to Bratkovich, the flood occurred around the time of year when nearby Sugar Creek normally begins to dry out.
“We had a line for years. People would say, that little creek (darned) near dries up in August,” Bratkovich said. “Your typical August, Sugar Creek is barely carrying enough water. And then all of a sudden, it was hillside to hillside in places … It was something that nobody ever dreamed possible.”
“It was a beautiful day — the day before,” Andreassi said.
By this time, the National Weather Service had established a system of volunteer flood monitors for Bradys Bend. However, Zumstein said she believes that the rain came so quickly, the monitor system had no time to make a difference.
“The rain came so fast and the flood happened so quickly, there would have been no warning,” Zumstein said. “So there wasn’t any warning.”
Those who experienced the flood remember a second overwhelming wave that happened not long after — a wave of generosity from first responders and volunteers.
“Firemen came from all over the region,” Zumstein said. “Fire companies seemed to come in fours, and so many other volunteers came and brought food and helped clean up.”
“The churches all pitched in. People came from all over to help,” Bratkovich said. “The chain saws were deafening down there. The response was pretty impressive.”
Among those who responded to the disaster were a group who survived the 1977 Johnstown flood, which occurred just three years earlier and led to 84 deaths.
“This group of volunteers from the Johnstown flood came up, and they brought all their own shovels and cleaning supplies and buckets, and this was the day after,” Zumstein said. “They knew what happened. They had that experience.”
According to Bratkovich, there was at least one silver lining that came out of the disaster.
“You hate to say that anything good came out of it, but when (Federal Emergency Management Agency) was here, our township qualified for relief funds that modernized the township with new water lines and sewer lines,” Bratkovich said.
Zumstein says she was encouraged to start writing her book about the disaster after completing a memoir about her family history, which included a section about the flood.
“When (my editor) read the section about the flood, she said, ‘You know, Lisa, you could turn that into a book,’” Zumstein said. “And I started to ask some people in Bradys Bend if they would be interested. The reception I got from folks was so strong that I said, ‘OK, I’m going to do it.’”
The book, “The Brady’s Bend Flood of 1980: Tragedy in Western Pennsylvania,” was released through Amazon in late July and is currently available in paperback.
An event recognizing the flood’s anniversary will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, at the Bradys Bend Township municipal building, as part of a 45th anniversary commemoration for the flood.
Zumstein will be at the event and giving a formal presentation at 1:30 p.m. on the flood’s history. The event will also include information on the flood’s history, children’s activities and food trucks.
A morning invitation-only memorial for families of victims will take place at the Bradys Bend flood memorial with an unveiling of the renovated monument.
Remembrance of the 1980 Bradys Bend flood
WHAT: Commemoration of 45th anniversary of the Bradys Bend flood. The event will also include information on the flood’s history, children’s activities and food trucks.
WHEN: Noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, with a 1:30 p.m. presentation on the flood by author Lisa O. Zumstein
WHERE: Bradys Bend Township municipal building
OF NOTE: A morning invitation-only memorial for families of victims will take place at the Bradys Bend flood memorial with an unveiling of the renovated monument.
