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COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

"It's amazing that the miscommunication took place. Where the USGS did not tell people that it's going to stop working after it reaches, what is that, 38.5 feet. That's amazing, it's unacceptable and it shouldn't have happened," says Josh Hodell.

For hours emergency officials believed the river had crested at 38-and-a-half feet. But soon leaders would come to the realization that just wasn't true.

The gauge that measures the river levels simply stopped working after becoming submerged in flood waters.

The Susquehanna peaked at a once-thought improbable number, shattering the record notched in 1972 and Hurricane Agnes.

For some people who were on that wall when the river actually crested, it was a frightening fact. "When I found out the next day that it had crested at 42.66 feet I was speechless probably for a couple of minutes. the fact that I was standing there. First of all, it's just amazing that it crested that high. I never thought Agnes would get beat as far as the record is concerned. Second was, if I'd have known it was 42.66 feet there is no way I would have been standing on that wall. I would not have been anywhere near there and I don't think anybody else would have been either," said Dave Skutnik.

"When I found out that the river had actually gone to 42.6 and it was only working its way down from there, we're now at like only 41 feet all the hours later, I was in a cold sweat, because I couldn't believe what was going on," said Joe Holden.

"Then we come to find out that the river actually crested while we were standing there, which, frankly was kind of unnerving," adds Monica Madeja.

When the dust settled and people began to process the unprecedented information, it was clear that we were witnessing history. The unbreakable record was broken. The remnants of a tropical storm toppled the legendary hurricane. "That was the moment that everything came together and you realized, wow, this is a flood worse than Agnes," said Dave Skutnik.

"The fact that we got to 42 feet was just really amazing itself, to break that record that was nearly 40 years old. In weather, it's hard to forecast a record or hard to forecast above a record because you typically don't break them. Records are records for a reason. So for that record to basically be shattered by almost two feet was just, unimaginable almost," adds Dave Kuharchik.

Still this wasn't a record to be celebrated. And the fashion in which it came about  left many with questions and concerns. "And then to find out that a river gauge wasn't reliable, that's troubling. Something has to be done so that people can have confidence in those gauges and the mechanics of things that are in place to make sure they know they're safe," says Mark Hiller.

"I guess the question I have is, if the gauge was malfunctioning why did we not know about that," adds Dave Kuharchik.

It was already a dangerous situation, but looking back one can only imagine the panic that might have set-in if the real numbers were registering in real time. "If anybody was told in advance this river was going to go to 42.66, the expression head for the hills is exactly what you would have seen," says Hiller.


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