Members of the The Times Leader and WBRE/WYOU ‘Agnes 50’ team are seen with the Susquehanna River in the background. From left Times Leader News Editor Roger DuPuis, Reporter Ryan Evans, Reporter Jerry Lynott, Reporter Bill O’Boyle, Executive Editor Joe Soprano, Publisher Kerry Miscavage; WBRE/WYOU Vice President/General Manager Andy Wyatt, News Director Craig Hume, Anchor Candice Kelly, Anchor Nick Toma, Photographer Mark Albrecht, Multimedia Journalist Madonna Mantione, Assignment Manager Shawn Lanier, Executive Producer Katherine Lachette, Executive Producer Jayne Ann Bugda.
                                 Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

Members of the The Times Leader and WBRE/WYOU ‘Agnes 50’ team are seen with the Susquehanna River in the background. From left Times Leader News Editor Roger DuPuis, Reporter Ryan Evans, Reporter Jerry Lynott, Reporter Bill O’Boyle, Executive Editor Joe Soprano, Publisher Kerry Miscavage; WBRE/WYOU Vice President/General Manager Andy Wyatt, News Director Craig Hume, Anchor Candice Kelly, Anchor Nick Toma, Photographer Mark Albrecht, Multimedia Journalist Madonna Mantione, Assignment Manager Shawn Lanier, Executive Producer Katherine Lachette, Executive Producer Jayne Ann Bugda.

Tony Callaio | For Times Leader

WILKES-BARRE — The 1972 Agnes flood was the most devastating natural disaster in Luzerne County’s history, never to be forgotten by those who survived the waters’ wrath. The Times Leader and WBRE/WYOU TV have partnered on a joint reporting project to commemorate the flood’s 50th anniversary by talking with those who remember, and those who have worked to protect us from similar tragedies.

This joint reporting effort will launch June 12, with a series of daily stories by each outlet in the week leading up to the 50th anniversary that will include multimedia presentations on their respective websites.

You can see a video promo here.

“The Times Leader and WBRE/WYOU and have been advertising partners for a few years, and based on the mutual respect formed between our organizations, Andy Wyatt, Vice President/General Manager WBRE TV | Nexstar Media Inc. and I decided to merge our news teams for this project, for the first time in history,” Times Leader Media Group Publisher Kerry Miscavage said.

“Our focus of the joint reporting commemorates the historic 50 years since Agnes. The result is that you will find never read or seen stories, photos and footage of local people that struggled through the flood waters to rebuild their homes and lives,” Miscavage added.

“This will be a powerful and emotional project because it draws not just on our teams’ reporting expertise, but on what they and their loved ones experienced during that unforgettable summer,” Wyatt said.

The Times Leader also will publish a special section on Sunday, June 19, while WBRE/WYOU will broadcast a one-hour special program, “Eyewitness News Presents: Agnes At 50,” at the following dates and times:

WYOU

• Monday, 6/20 and Thursday, 6/23 – 7-8 p.m.

WBRE

• Friday, 6/24 – 10-11 p.m.

• Saturday, 6/25 – Noon-1 p.m.

• Sunday, 6/26 – 11 a.m.-noon

Times Leader reporter Kevin Carroll, a West Pittston native, played a key role on the newspaper’s Agnes reporting team.

“It was an honor, and an incredibly eye-opening experience, to sit with men and women who lived through Agnes and listen as they told their stories,” Carroll said.

“I’m Wyoming Valley born and raised, but only had a basic knowledge of the Agnes disaster before starting this project,” Carroll added. “To get to hear about the horrors of the flood from the people who watched it unfold in real time was incredibly powerful.”

Times Leader Executive Editor Joe Soprano, a Wilkes-Barre native whose childhood home was inundated by the flood, participated in the project both from the management perspective, and by sharing his memories of the flood in a WBRE interview.

“Like so many people who lived in the Wyoming Valley and have memories of Agnes, I can say that the flood had a dramatic impact on our family that lasted long after the waters receded,” Soprano said. “To be able to lead my hometown paper in coverage of this historic anniversary is bittersweet, but it also is an opportunity to pay tribute to those who devoted themselves to cleaning up and rebuilding the Valley, and to keep their story alive for readers who are too young to remember or who were not yet born when the flood hit.”

For questions about the project or advertising opportunities, contact Miscavage by email: kmiscavage@timesleader.com.