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From the Gowanda PennySaver News "Reflections" series compiled by Mary Pankow. issue date - September 26, 2004

Zoar Valley Flood, 1956 — The Gowanda News & Times on March 7, 1956 reported that “the highest flood waters ever recorded in the Cattaraugus roared through Gowanda early Wednesday morning, causing thousands of dollars of damage to property adjacent to the creek bank.” Upstream in Zoar Valley, the Gowanda Fire Department was called out to rescue three motorists stranded by the rapidly rising water. In the most dramatic incident, Charles Krangel, 33, of North Otto, was crossing the valley when his car stalled. With the current too strong, he took refuge on the roof, holding his pet dog. At dawn the firemen began their work with Bob Cain and Bernard Stelley launching a boat from the south side of the creek. Armed with hundreds of feet of rope to use as a tether, they brought the man and dog to the shore. These photos show the enormity of the flood, which spread a mile wide, nearly filling the valley with water. The building is Burt Bates’s Zoar Valley Park, which stood north of the creek on the west side of North Otto Road. (Photos by Mildred Koester Metzger, courtesy of her granddaughter, Krystal Smith. From the Gowanda Area Historical Society collection.)