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Blizzard of ’96, 30 Years On: Thaw-Driven Floods Tore Out Harrisburg’s Walnut Street Bridge

A rapid warmup days later turned the record snowfall into deadly flooding that tore out Walnut Street Bridge spans.

Overview

  • Snow fell Jan. 6–8 with 22.2 inches officially at Harrisburg International Airport, with localized totals above 30 inches in York County and reports exceeding 40 inches in parts of Pennsylvania.
  • On Jan. 19, temperatures spiked to a record 56°F and rain to the north accelerated the melt, driving a swift rise on the Susquehanna River.
  • Ice breakup on Jan. 20 swept away two spans of Harrisburg’s Walnut Street Bridge, and a third span later collapsed, with no injuries reported.
  • Archival video shows a 200-foot barge tossed onto a parking lot by floodwaters, crushing cars.
  • Retrospectives cite about 80 deaths statewide and roughly $1 billion in damage, and the 1889 bridge—listed on the National Register—still lacks its east–west connection decades later.