June 22, 1972: Hurricane Agnes

Pittsburgh, flooded by Hurricane Agnes

June 22, 1972: Hurricane Agnes hits the Northeastern U.S. It kills 128 people, and becomes the costliest hurricane in American history to that point, causing $2.1 billion in damage. (In 2022 money, $14.7 billion.) In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, over 43,000 buildings were destroyed.

Since New York City and Washington, D.C. got hit, Agnes was more publicized that most hurricanes. But it did its biggest damage in Northeastern Pennsylvania, in the Reading area, in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, and the Lehigh Valley of Easton, Allentown and Bethlehem. The Delaware, Susquehanna and Lackawanna Rivers all well overran their usual limits. Ironically, their Congressman at the time was named Daniel Flood, but he did lead the relief efforts for the hurricane in Congress.

Across Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh got flooded. The Chesapeake region, including Maryland and Virginia, was also hard-hit. Before any of those places, it hit Florida, causing damage from the Keys all the way up to Jacksonville.

Unlike with George W. Bush and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, no one faulted President Richard Nixon for his response. He was still thinking the election he had to run in might be close, and he needed Pennsylvania's 27 Electoral Votes. He ended up winning every County in the State, except Philadelphia. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, including November 7. Had the hurricane happened a few days before the election, it probably wouldn't have ended up making a difference.

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June 22, 1972 was a Thursday. There were only 2 scores, both in Major League Baseball. The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. And the Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 3-for-4. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4. Each of them also had a walk and an RBI.