FEBEUAEY 1937 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 71
RIVERS AND FLOODS
[River and Flood Division. W. J. Molor temporarily in charge]
By BENNETT SWEN~ON
The outstanding feature of the floods that occurred
during the months of January and February 1937 was the
unprecedented flood in the Ohio and lower hlississippi Valleys. Floods of lesser severity occurred elsewhere over
the country; and in the following discussion of the import-
ant features, causes, etc., of all the floods that occurred
during January and February, the floocls have been ar-
ranged according to drainage areas. Reports by the
officials of the various district centers in the Ohio and
lower Aiississippi Valleys have been added to the discus-
sion of the Ohio-Mississippi flood.
ST. LAWRENCE DRAINAGE
Minor flooding occurred in the hiaumee Valley in
Indiana and Ohio near the middle of January. No
damage of consequence was incurred.
ATLANTIC SLOPE DRAINAGE
Precipitation was above normal over most of the A tlm- tic Slope Drainage during January, ranging from normal to
as much as twice normal or more over portions of the
Middle Atlantic States. The precipitation was quite
evenly distributed over the whole month so that, although flooding occurred in the upper Susquehanna River and
tributaries in New York and in all the rivers from the Potoninc River southward to Florida, no serious flooding
resulted. Additional heavy rains during February, which occurred
on the Sth and 9th and again on the 20th and 21st, again
brought most of these rivers slightly above flood stage.
No losses of consequence were reported in the river
basins with the exception of the following: Roanoke River,
about $73,000; Neuse Rivrr, $14,000; and the Peedee River, $13,000, all mostly clue to suspension of busiiiess; Santee River, $35,000, mostly to crops and suspeiision of
logging industry; and Altamaha River, about $25,000.
EAST GULF OF MEXICO DRAINAGE
The rainfall was above normal over the northern portion
of the drainage area during January and in portions of Mississippi it was more than three times normal. During
February the southeastern portion of the drainage area
received normal to slightly above normal precipitnticn. The lower portion of the Apnlacliicola River reached
flood stage on January 4 and continued above flood stage a t the close of February, with only a slight interruption on
February 20. The flooding was not serious, howerer, and
no damage of consequence was reported.
Minor flooding occurred in the Alabama River and its
tributaries during January, and only slight damage was
caused by flooding of the lowlands.
Heavy rains on January 1 and 2 over the entire water- sheds of both the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Ilivers
were followed by rapid rises throughout the entire system
and the Black Warrior a t Tuscaloosa, ,41a., reached a
crest neaTly 13 feet above flood stage on January 3.
Heavy r a m occurred again a t frequent intervals during the month of January and the Tonibigbee River continued
to rise steadily until the first part of February, when a
crest stage of nearly 25 feet above flood stage was reached
a.t Lock No. 3.
The flooding in the Tombigbee River continued through most of February and a t some points the stsages were still
above flood stsage a.t the close of Februasy. As there were no crops planted, the damage was small, the larger part being the loss of wages due to suspension of lumbering
ope,rlitions. The total losses reported were about $16,000.
Unusually heavy rain occurred over much of the Pas- cagoula and Pearl River watersheds during January.
The heaviest rninfall reported for the month was a t
Hickory, h/Iiss., where 21.4s inches was recorded. At Meridian, Miss., slightly less, 18.i7 inches, was recorded.
The rainfall, however, was very well distributed through- out the month, thus result,ing in relatively moderate floods
and the damage was not great. The total loss reported
for the Pascagoula and Pearl River systems was slightly
less than $50,000.
UPPER MISSISSIPPI DRAINAGE
Minor floods occurred during January in the Illinois,
Mernniec, and Bourbeuse Rivers. They were due mostly to thawing and ice movenients. No clamage of conse-
quence was reported. Moderate to heavy rains began over sout'hemtern Iowa,
nortliern Illinois, and southern FTisconsin on February 19, becoming heaviest on the 20th and 21st, and continuing
into the 23d. The snow cover varied from moderately
heavy to light in this region. The heavy rains and mod-
erate temperatures melted the ice and snow and the run-
off was rapid. The streams be.gm swelling, breaking up the ice and forming gorges. Rather severe flooding
resulted, princ,ipnlly from the forming and brenliing of
ice gorges, in most of the rivers in this nreit. As the flood- ing continued into kinrch in some places a more complete
report on these floods will be given in the March number
of bhe REVIETI;. The staves in the upper Mississippi River remained
quite low cTuring t,he month of Januii.ry m c l the first part
of February, but a rise began the latter part of February.
Stages did not exceed flood stnge, however, except a t Keithsburg, Ill., where a stage 0.3 foot above flood stnge
was reached on February 25.
IlISSOURI DRAINAGE
The only flooding during Januarj7 occurred on the 31st,
when the Grnnd River wiis in flood a t Chillicothe, Mo. No clamage occurred. A more general flood occurred in February in the Grand
River. The flood was light except a t Chillicothe, hlo., where two crests occurred, on February 12-13 and again
on February 1s-19, with stages S or 9 feet above flood
shge. No great amount of damage occurred, due largely to the time of the yerear. The outstanding fact about, the floocls of Jnnunry and
February in the Grnnd River was their frequency when due almost entirely to melting of sleet, snow, and ice.
The lowest stage of record on the Missouri River a t
Kansas City, Mo., occurred on January 9 and 10. The gage reading was 2.7 feet below zero.
72 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW FEBRUARY 1937
25 30 38 40
bo
50 50 62
28 51 47 35 33 39 40
OHIO DRAINAGE
The great flood of January-February 1937 in the Ohio
Valley actually had its beginning in the latter part of December 1936, when moderate to henvy rains began over the entire Ohio River watershed. After several months of
comparatively low stages in the Ohio River a general rise
began in the lower portion during the lnst week of Decem-
ber 1936 and developed within 1 month’s time into the
greatest flood of record. The flood resulted from excessive rains which followed
during the month of January. There was practic,ally no
snow on the ground a t the beginning of the month and
whatever amount,s fell subsequently were absorbed in the
general rains or floods, and had no appreciable effect on
the flood. Figure 1 shows thnt the area of excessive precipitation
coincided almost exactly with the drainage basins of the
Ohio River and the upper portion of the lower Mississippi River; the greatest concentration occurring in the lower
portions of the Ohio Vnlley. The total precipitation for January in this 1a.tter area was more than four times the
amount of precipitation which normally occ,urs during
19.0 19.8 18.0 21.4 23.7 28.0 30.8 30.6
17.0 36.7 35.6
34.8
r39.0
40.8
__ __ - - -
the month. The cause of the abnorma.1 weather during Jnnuary 1937
has been described bv C. L. Mitchell, Forecaster, Wash-
34.5-Jan. 26 ___________ 48.7-Jan. 26 __________
62.7-Jan. 27 __________ 69.3-Jan. 27 _______.._
75.3-Jan. 27 __________ 80.0-Jan. 20 __________
57.1-Jan. 27 __________ 81.4-Jan. 27 __________ 69.4-Jan. 28 ____._____
63.8-Jan. 31-Feb. l--- 65.CrFeb. 2 I ._________
00.5-Feb. 2: __________ 69.6-Feb. 3-4 _________
65.4-Jan. 26 __________
74.l-Jm. 27 __________
ington Forecast Dist&t, as follows:
During almost the entire month of January, an abnoriiial
barometric pressure distribution prevailed over most of the northern
hemisphere. Inasmuch as the movenients of air masses, as shown
by the wind directions and speeds, are determined by pressure gradients, the weather conditions resulting from the movements and interactions of the air masfjes, have likewise been abnormal over large areas. These unusual weather conditions. insofar as
they affected the United StateB, can be summarized briefly as
f 0110 ws :
Pressure was persistently and abnormally high at, and up to at least 3 mile8 above, the surface of the earth from the south Atlantic States and the eastern Gulf of Mexico eastward over the Bahamas
and the region of Bermuda, as well aa over the Pacific Ocean west of our coast and northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. This pressure
’
46.0--1936... 0.5 65.5-1936--. 12.7
62.8-1913--- 22.7 e5.3--1~13--. 19.3
68.4-1913..- 25.3 71.1-1884.-. 28.0
46.7-1884.-. 29.1 70.0-18!34.-. 30.4
80.0-18&4-.- 22.4
48.4-1913-.- 18.8 68.9-1913.-. 32.5
64.3-1913.-. 21.6
58.4-1927... 19.6
.%.9-1913-.- 10.4
67.8-1913-.. 24.1
distribution resulted in a continuous northward and northeastward
movement of tropical air masses over the area roughly from
Louisiaua and Tennessee eastward to the Atlantic States, New England, and New York, while air masses of polar origin moved southward almost continuously over much of the western half of the United StateB. Consequently, the month of January was abnor- mally warm in the East and South and abnormally cold in the
Pacific St.ates, the Plateau and Rocky Mountain regions, the Plains States, and, at times, the upper Mississippi Valley. The extremely heavy rainfall over the Ohio Valley, Tennessee, and Arkansas and part of the adjoining areas was in general caused
by the fact that this area was so located with relation to the very deep areas of high pressure on either side that at the earth’s surface
the line of contact between the warm, moist air from the eouth, and the dense, cold air of polar origin that came in over the Ohio and middle Mississippi Valleys 011 many days from the north and
northeast, lay somewhere over this area much of the time; and the less dense warm air from the south (or southwest) was forced to rise
over the cold and denser air. The rapid lifting of the very moiet air of tropical origin resulted in abundant precipitation.
Henry rain occurred over the Cumberland and Tennes-
see River basins during the night of January 1. The amounts were slightly in excess of 4 inches a t some points.
This occurred on rising rivers and quickly brought both
the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers to flood. The stnges on these rivers fell slightly below flood stage about
the middle of the nionth but rose quickly when the rains
again increased. The Wabash River was at high stnge
a t the close of December and with ndditional rains the first pnrt of January the river renched flood stage and remnined in flood most of the month.
Thus, t,he lower Ohio River was receiving considerable
quantities of wat,er from its three lnrgest tributaries at the very beginning of Jnnuary and it continued to rise a t a
steady rnte. As early as January 8 portions of the lower Ohio River were above flood stage and on the 10th the
river was above flood stage from the mouth a t Cairo, Ill.,
to Paducah, Icy., nearly up to flood st,age from there to Louisville, Icy., and from one-half to two-thirds full from
Louisville, Ky., to Pitt,sburgh, Pa. Table 1 gives the
stnges on the Ohio River on this date, as well as on several
following dates.
TABLE 1.-Stages of the Ohio River between 7 and 8 a. m. on 3 outstanding dates during the flood of 1997, and comparative data.
[Jan. 10, above flood stage from Cairo, Ill., to Paducah, Ky. Jan. 18. above flood stage from Cairo, Ill., to Cincinnati, Ohio. Jan. 24, (Black Sunday) above previous records from Portsmouth, Ohio, to Cairo, Ill.]
I 1 January
Btation
1 Approximated.
I Furnished by U. 9. Engineer OfBca.
8 Readings furnished by U. 8. Qeological Survey.
Practically all of the precipitation that occurred over the Ohio Valley during January occurred within the period
from the 1st to the 24th, inclusive. During the first hnlf of this period, 1st-lSth, the rainfall was not abnorninlly
heavy, nor was it concentrated over a sniall area. (See fig. 2.) However, dui-ing the second half, 13th-S4th,
inclusive, the rainfall was exceedingly heavy and the
area of greatest intensity was located along the Ohio
22.0 28.2 36.0
41.6 40.0 60.0 49. 6
52.4
30.8 53.8 51.8
42.8
844.7 47.8
-. . . -. .
-
24
28.2
45.0 60.6 57.5 63. 3 68.7 69.4 73.4
51. 5
’ 75.4 65. 1 49.4
3 55.8 66.8
._____
Height of crest above
Creat and date
I stage I
?revlous hlghest
River from Cincinnati, Ohio, to the mouth, extending
into Arkansas. (See fig. 3.) The axjs of this area followed
the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Louisville, Ky., and from there on it lay a very short distance south of the course of the main stream.
At the beginning of the second half of the January 1-24 period the rains increased in intensity and were heavy on
the 13th and 14th, and again on the 17th. By the morn-
FEBRUARY 1937 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 73
1 90 85 80 75
FIGUBE 1.-Total precipitation for January 1831 and percentage above normal.
74 MONTHLY WEATHER REVPEW FEBRUARY 1937
I 90 85 BO 75
I 90 85 80 75
FIGUBE 2.-Precipitation for January 1 to 12, inclusive, 1937.
FEBRUARY 1937 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 75
95 85 00 75
90 85 75
Rows &-Precipitation for January 13-24, inclusive, 1837.
136774-37-3
76 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW FEBRUARY 1937
ing of the 15th the Ohio River was in flood from the mouth upstreaiii to Cincinnuti, Oluo, as shown in table 1.
Beginning with the l i t h , heavy and excessive rains began and continued aliiiost without interruption until the morning of the 25th. The area of heaviest precipitation
wavered back and forth across the Ohio River and it was
seldom during this period that the precipitation area
moved far enough from the river that the downpours did not affect it. The close proximity of the downpour to tlie
rriain stream is seen in the fact that high stages did not
occur in the upper sections of tlie Licking and Kentucky Rivers, while in the lower portions the highest stages of
record occ iirred.
This w-ns true, for the most part, of all the tributaries of
the Ohio River, during tlie critical period of the flood.
The Tennessee River during its second rise, did not exceed
flcocl stage a t Chattanooga, Tenn., and above; was in flood
froni below Chattanooga to its mouth, but did not reach
record-breaking proportions. The stages in the lower portion of tlie Cumberlnncl River were record-breaking,
but clecreased in the upper portion until they were only
slightly above flood stltge. Tlie tributrtry streanis in Yennsylvmia, Ohio, and Indiana were nlso, for the most part, in greater flood in their lower portions. The prin-
cipal tributaries in West Virgjnia were not in flood, with
the exception of the Little hanawha, where only illinor flooding occurred. The heavy rains falling in such close prosiinity to the
Ohio River passed quickly into the main st,ream which
was nlready full, and resulted in a r:ipid rise over a long
reach in the river and by the morning of the 34th, which
was probably the darkest nioinent in the history of the
flood, the entire Ohio River WLS above flood stage and :ill records h:td been broken from Cairo, Ill., to Portsmouth,
Ohio. (See table 1.) The greatest 24-hour rise from 7
a. m. to 7 a. m. on a river which wis already well abow flood stage occurred after escep tionally heavy rains on the
20th-3lst. The water rose 6.7 feet a t Cincinnati, Ohio,
and 6.3 feet at Louisville, Icy., from the 21st-22d.
On the morning of the 24th occurred the final henry downpour of the flood. The total amounts for tlie i 2
hours between 7:30 a. ni. and 7:30 p. m., eastern stnnclnrtl time, along the Ohio River were as follows: Pittsburgh,
Pa., 0.70 inches: Pnrkersburg, W. Va., 0.46 inches : Cincinnnti, Olio, 2.18 inches; Louisville, Ky., 3.50 inches; Evansville, Ind., 1.31 inches; and Cairo, Ill., 0.90 inches.
The stage a t Cincinnati, Ohio, rose from ’73.4 to 7S.7 feet
during the 21 hours following 7 a. m. of January 24, and at Louisdle, Icy., the water rose from 51.5 to 54.5 feet
during the same period. The effective rains of the good
ended shortly after this period and within a clay or two
the river crested at niost points along the ri\-er except in
the lower portion.
All previous records were broken along the Ohio River froin slightly below Point Pleasant, M7. Va., to the mouth
at Cairo, Ill. Tlie crest a t Pittsburgh, Pa., exceeded
fioocl stage by 6.5 feet, but was 11.5 feet below the record stage reached in hiarch 1936. The crest a t Parkersburg,
W. Va., 55.4 feet, was 19.4 feet above flood stage and 7.4 feet above the March 1936 stnge, but 3.5 feet below
the record stage which occurred in 1013. At Cincinnati,
Ohio, with n stage of SO feet on January 26 the flood stage
was exceeded by 28 feet and the previous highest stage
recorded there, 71.1 feet in 1584, was exceeded by 8.9
feet. The height of the flood was greatest in the Louis- ville, Ky., district, where tlie stages were about 30 feet
above flood stage and more than 11 feet above the previous
highest stages of record. At Cairo, Ill., the crest reached
was 19.6 feet above flood stnge and 3.2 feet above the
highest stage previously recorded there.
Tlie stages in the Ohio River, particularly in the lower portion, rose at a fairly uniform rate from the beginning
of the month until the crest was reached. There were severnl crests escept in the lower portion during the first
half uf Janunry, but beginning on the 13th the rains followeti one another so closely that a steady and sharp rise owuxed, particularly in the vicinities of Cjncinna ti,
Ohio, nntl Louisville, Ky. The rises that occurred a t a nmnber of stations from 7 a. in. of January 14 until the
crest wns reached were as follows: Parkersbnrg, W. Va.,
33.5 feet; Portsmouth, Ohio, 36.3 feet; Cincinnati, Ohio,
3i.S feet; Louisville, Ky., 37.6 feet; and Evansville, Ind.,
15.G feet.
On January 35 the “fuse plug levees” of the Birds
Poiut-Ne\lr Rindrid floodway on the Missouri side of the hli.;&sippi River just below Cairo, Ill., were opened
allowing tlie water to spread out over a 130,000 acre
ilood.ir-ny. The opera tioii of this flootlway is discussed in
furtlier detail in the Cairo, Ill., district report appearing
at tlic e d of this article. The efl’ect of the spreading of the \\--ai-cr owr the floodway is seen in the fact that the
river :it C:iir(~, Ill., fell from 5S.G feet on the afternoon of
tlie 25th to 57.9 feet on the morning of the 2Sth and then
resuniecl 3 slower rise until the crest of 56.6 feet was re;tcliecl on February 3-4. The rate of rise decreased
iii,~ terially t:pstream as far as Padlucah, Ky. The decrease in the rise in the lower portion of the river
was nlso aft’ected by a breaking through of the Ohio River to the witershed of the Cache River, which nornially
empties into the Ohio a few miles upstream from Cairo,
Ill.
Hon-e\-er, the Cache River overflowed the lowlands and the flow c u t across southern Alesander County in Illinois
nncl entered the Rlississippi River 10 or 12 miles northwest
c,f Cniro, Ill. This course is said by historinns to have
lwen :in :tbandoned valley of the Ohio River. The fen- tmes of this overflow are cliscusqed in more detail in tlie
Evansville, Ind., district report a t tlle end of this article.
(See table 1 .)
LOWER MISSISSIPPI DRAINAGE
The stages in the upper Mississippi River were quite low during the mont,h of January and the Missouri River wns
iiiiusually low as has been stated elsewhere in this report. Tlie highest stage a t St. Louis, Mo. (flood stage 30 feet)
during Jnnuary occurred on the 17th, when 12.5 feet was renched, then the stage dropped quickly to 7.7 feet on the
2Snd and 7.0 on Februaiy 1. The river did not rise above
the high point of January until February 25, when the stage a t St. Louis, Mo., reached 18.8 feet.
The two largwt western tributaries of the Mississippi River below Cairo, Ill., the Arkansas and the Red Rivers,
drain a region which had been suffering from drought for
the last three seasons and consequently did not contribute
excessive water to the flood. The Poteau and the Petit
Jean, tributaries of the Arkansas River, were slightly above flood stage in January. The Arkansas River proper
reached flood stage only a t Van Buren, Ark., on one day during Jnnusry. The highest stage renched a t Little
Rock, Ark., wns 15.8 feet on January 18, about 4 feet below flood stnge, and the stage dropped to 11.2 feet on
February 1. The river rose again to 17.6 feet on February
3 but fell quickly to 7.5 on the 10th. All of the tributaries
of the Red River were mostly in light to moderate flood during much of JanuHry escept the Ounchit,a River,
which was in high flood with the highest stage a t Cnniden,
Ark., on January 35, reaching 41.5 feet, which is 0.5 foot
FEBRUARY 1937 MONTHLY ITEATHER REVIEW 77
Floocl
stilpe
13. 5
14.7
15. 3 16. 3
11,s
lG.2
10.3
:2.0
111.0
2.'
higher than in April 1937. Tile Red River proper, how-
ever, only esceeded flood stage by 1 foot rct Blesnnclria, La., on Februnry 2. The highest stage reached in the Ked
River a t Shreveport, La., was 23.2 Ieet (floodstrge :;9 feet) on January 39. On Februnry 10 the stage 1i:id fnllen to
lG.S feet and on Fehrunry 19 t,o 10.7 feet.
In the White Basin the Black River was only in 1i:oder-
ate flood and in the White River flood stcges \\-ere not exceeded above C'alico Roc,lr, Ark. The crest reac!iccl :It
Georgetown, Ark., w-as 30.3 feet on Jaiiu:try 3 -2 5 , v. hich
is the same as in April 1927, but the levees hdtl this time
nncl not, in 1927.
Of the remaining tributaries of the lower Siississippi River the St. Francis and the Tazoo Rivers l i d consicler-
able flooding which began early in Jnnuary in tlie upper
portion and continued into RIarcli in the lower portions,
the flooding during the latter period being clue t o hach- water froni the hlissisqippi River. At the beginning of the rise in the Ohio River late in
December the stages in the hIississippi River bchw C:&irci,
Ill., were very low. The stage a t Rfcnlpllis, Teiin., on D~o- ceniber 31, was 9.2 feet and :it New Orlenns, La., 2.6 {pet.
The preniiling low stnges along the lower hiiqsissippi
Rirer at the time of the beginning of the flooJ in the Ohicn River, together with the low stage; in the Mississippi L' 1 iwr
above Cairo, Ill., niicl the fact tlint the western tr5ut:irics
of the lower hfississippi River iiiJ not, at any time tlisc.h:zrge inore than riioclertitely high ainounts, and at the time of the
crest in the RIississippi River their dischnrges l i d drupped
off, d l helped to prevent a super flood in the Rlississippi
Biver. As it was, all previous records were brolien froin the
mouth of the Ohio River to Helena, hk., and nt Natchez,
Miss. Table 3 shows the height of the crest m c l the tlute,
ns u-ell as the previous highest stages, along the lower Mississippi River.
TABLE 2.-Higliest stages renched d o n g flic l o e r Mississippi Rnw in 1957 in cotjlijnt .s o u t o t l ,e p )L t I i 3 1 (\ hiyliest sfrlges of t t c j i r l
F'xvions highest
~-
3.3
..........
3. 7
3. 5
.......... .......... ..........
1 .4
.......... ..........
New hladriil, ?.lo ........... Memphis, Tenn .............
Beale Street gage. .......
Helena, Ark .................
Arkansas City. Ark .........
Oreenriile, Miss. ...........
Vicksbuig. hIiss .............
Natchez, 3Iiss.~ .............
Baton Rouge, La ............
New Orlenns, La ............
3: 4:. 0--Feh. 2-5.. 31 +s. ;-Pel,. IO.-. 35 .dJ.3-Feb. 10 ...
44 f;O. 3-Feb. :I ...
42 53.S-Tel1. 12-15
36 52 2-Fel). 15 ...
JB A3.2-Feb. 21 ...
4i; S.@-Feh. 21-25
33 1 4 GFeb. B....
1; I 12.3--IwJ. 2 ..
Flood stage was first exceeded on the lower Mississippi
River on Janiiary 13 a t New hlaclrid, Mo., and the last
station to pass flood stage wns New Orleans, La., on Febru-
ary 7. The first date that t,lie river fell below flood stage
at any point was on February 26 at New hlndrid, Mo., and
the last point to fall below flood stage was at Baton Rouge,
La., on March 23.
-
With the exception of Nfttchez, hliss., the crest,s in the
river below Helena, Ark., were below the peaks reached in
1927. The high stage reached a t Natchez, Miss., is 1111-
doubtedlg due to the action of the 13 cut-offa in the Rfis-
sissippi River between the mouths of the Arkansas md Red Rivers, which helped to lower the stnges iil the upper
portions of the region affected by hastening the progress uf
the water but in so doing piled up the water in the lower
portion md at Nztchez, hiiss., which is 3 miles below the last cut-off.
Although the stages below Natchez, Miss., were 1 .O to
2 .S feet below the 1937 stages, the crest on the Atchafnlayn Itivcr a t Sininiesport, La., w:is 4.1 feet lower tlinn the 1927
viest. The cause of tliis discrepincy 11:is been explained in
the New Orlems, La., district report appearing a t the end of this tzrticle.
TLe Bonnet Cnrre spillway located 33 miles upstream
fruni New Orleans, La., was opened by the Uiiited States
E I L ~~~~I Y ~s 1:ite in J:inunry, diverting a portion of the water
froni tlie river inlo Lalie Fonchartrnin. The resultant
1ox;eri:ic c,f t!ie stace a t New Orlems, L'!., is estinintecl to
be iiot less tlinn 3 feet.
LOSS AND DAhMGE
Tt is inipossible to give even nn estiiiiate of the aiiiomit
t d lobs a n d ciminge tit:it occurred in the Ohio and lower
ill i:.sic*ippi Vdlcys at this time. The harc1e:t l i t of the Inrger cities prc,hably %-tis Loiiisrille, Icy., where nearly
'71: percent of the city was L d e r \\-:iter and about 175,OOO
v. i~ple were forced to leave their homes. ,Teffersonville, k d ., across the river was (30 pertbent iiiiinrleted and 13,001)
j ~o p l e fled from their honies. In the Evnnsville, Ind., (list :i:t sboiii 0~1,000 people were f w c d from their homes.
C ' i 1 ~ i n ~a ti, Ohio, hecaiise of its higher elavation, WRS
l~ro!mlJy niwe fortiinate in thlit only 10 perwilt of its
a :x n TI-,^^ covered by water. However, the city was
~v ' L I !~ paritlyzcd by luss of m-tittr, power, heat, ttiid
li;!it nrid nearly helpless to conihat iires tlint broke out.
T!iei*c3 wcre a miniher of saisl!er cities along the low.rr
C;iA) River that =-ere completely slibmerged. The whole cily c,f I'adcc:ih, Icy., njth ti popuhtion of between SO,OO(J
:iiA &),()9\), wss ecwmted. Complete inr'ormntivn of the e.tcl;t of the inundation in the flooded nren is not available
tit) this time.
'The city of Portsmouth, Ohio, was protected bp a 60-
foot wnll n-1ic.h safely nithhelc! the fiood of hisrch 19nti.
€ictwe.crer, in the present flood the height of the water
e ~c c &d the top of the wall by more tlinn 14 feet. i?.:
soon RS it became apparent that the river stage would exreed the top of the wall, action was ta1;cn to permit tlie
yirter to enter the city through openings in order to Ivinimize tlie iorce of the current flowing over the wall.
Huwever, the rise in the river was so rnpicl thitt this action
was only partinlly successful and considerable dnn1ag.e
occwred froni water rushing over the mnll. Cairo, Ill., on the other hand, was safe behind its 60-foot wall as the
ciest of the river went up to 59.6 feet.
The estrenie upper portion of the Ohio River, which
m-vii> so hard hit in March 1936 escaped the worst part of
tllis flood. At Pittsburgh, Pa., the dnninge was not
prent although the flood stage was esceeded by 9.5 feet. 1 he losses increased in amount proceeding downstream.
The dmiage along the lower hfississippi Biver wns
confined nlinost entirely to the overflow between the banks
and tlie levees nnd in tlie hckwater areas of the tributaries.
&cnuse of tlie time of the gear the lowes of actual and prospective crops were iiot great. The levee system
improved end constructed niter the disastrous flood of 1937
wi tl;stoc)cl the eicep tionally high stages remarlably well
nnrl iio levee breaks occurred urless the 01-erflow a t the Bessie Landing cut-otf in Tennessee cnn be considered as
a le1 ee break.
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