1996 was the third worst after Agnes and 1936

In the winter of 1996, heavy rainfall hit snow-packed and already-saturated ground, causing flash flooding throughout the Susquehanna River Basin. In some places, ice jams caused the river to rise as much as eight feet in an hour. At Harrisburg, PA, the river rose 15 feet in 14 hours, with much of that occurring in a three-hour surge. The peak river flow there was 20 times the normal for this time of the year.

During the 1996 winter flood, severe ice jams on the Susquehanna River destroyed parts of the Safe Harbor and Holtwood hydroelectric facilities in Lancaster County, PA.

The Conowingo Dam in Maryland recorded its second-highest flow ever, about 6.8 million gallons per second, large enough to fill 27 large community swimming pools every second.

The town of Port Deposit, MD., a community downstream from the dam, was one of many that sustained extensive damage from the flood waters.

The January 1996 flood was the third worst in the river basin. In all, 14 lives were lost, and damages were estimated at more than $600 million. All of Pennsylvania and certain counties in New York and Maryland were declared federal disaster areas.