Central Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889: After a deluge of rainfall—nearly a foot in less than twenty-four hours—swelled the Little Conemaugh River, swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork dam, built to create a private lake for a fishing and hunting club that counted among its members Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Carnegie. At 3:10 p.m., the dam gave way, releasing 20 million tons of water. Traveling 40 miles an hour, with swells as high as 60 feet, the deadly floodwaters razed Johnstown, a vibrant steel town home to 20,000 people, in minutes. The Great Flood, as it would come to be called, today remains the deadliest in U.S. history, killing more than 2,200 people and causing $17 million in damage.

A testament to the power of the human spirit in times of tragedy, Al Roker’s Ruthless Tide is also a timely warning about the dangers of greed, inequality, neglected infrastructure, and the ferocious, uncontrollable power of nature.