Mount Union borough

Mount Union's Levee, 1952 to 1974

Mount Union's flood levee dates to 1952, according to the county's hazard mitigation plan of August 2008. The plan places it along the Juniata River upstream of the U.S. Route 522 bridge, and says it was raised and its upper end extended in 1974.

The plan says the levee protects the ground between itself, Filbert Street and North Washington Street from the 100-year flood on the river. It also says the Raystown Dam, on the Raystown Branch upstream of the borough, lowers the 100-year flood elevation at Mount Union by an average of 2.5 feet.

The same plan calls 1972 the maximum flood of record and gives it a recurrence interval at Mount Union of approximately 130 years. The U.S. Geological Survey's flood tables give crests for two floods at the town's highway bridge. The 1937 table puts the March 1936 crest at 575.4 feet above sea level, at the bridge's right bank. The 1975 table puts the June 23, 1972 crest at 571.8 feet, on the downstream side of the bridge. The two tables mark the bridge in different places, so the figures do not settle which flood stood higher here.

Checked against the record. Checked against the flooding appendix of the Huntingdon County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, dated August 2008 and posted by the county, and against two U.S. Geological Survey flood reports, read from the page images. The levee dates, the protected area, the 2.5 foot average and the 130 year figure come from the county plan alone. We have not seen the 1952 or 1974 construction records, the studies behind the plan's figures, or anything showing how the levee stands today. The plan gives no gauge reading for the town to back its 1972 statement. The 1936 and 1972 figures come from the Survey tables named above, and those tables do not describe the mark the same way. Still open: where the plan's statements came from, and what the local newspapers said in 1952 and 1974, which we have not read.

Sources

Checked 2026-11-01 · Primary sources and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

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