The Flood - Part 1
Stories From Our Ancestors 84 Years Ago During The Flood of 1937
This week, I’ll be posting stories/photos from the 1937 Flood, which occurred 84 years ago from January 18 to February 5th. You can also view my short film made in 2017 here.
At 7:00am on Monday morning January 18, 1937, the Ohio River, at the foot of Broadway St., passed the 52 foot mark officially crossing over the flood stage. It was just as predicted by Cincinnati’s chief meteorologist W.C. Devereaux, who stated in the papers that day that he believed the river would crest at 59 to 61 feet by the 19th into the 20th, and that this weather event could possibly be a “prolonged flood” with light rain expected all that week.
Unfortunately, the rain was not light like Devereaux had hoped. Two more inches fell Wednesday morning, and his predication of the river cresting at 59 to 61 feet was proving to be inaccurate by the hour.
A prolonged flood was exactly what Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky got. When the waters would stop rising, no one could accurately predict. The Ohio, Licking, Mill Creek and Little Miami rivers inundated the region. By Friday the 22nd, the waters approached 70 feet. Tens of thousands were left homeless as the rain continued to fall. Buildings, homes, cars were left in ruin. Telephone poles were destroyed causing mass communication issues across the tri-state. Drinking water was unsafe. Fires broke out. Bridges were forced to close and the railway was shut down. By Monday the 25th, the river was at 79 feet and the Ohio's current was carrying a staggering 894,000 cubic feet of water per second past Cincinnati. At 2:00am on Tuesday, January 26,1937, the Ohio River stage at Cincinnati was 79.99 feet, estimated by sight from a row boat on the West End gauge. It wouldn’t drop below flood stage until 5:00am on February 5th, 19 days after it had passed the 52 foot mark.
The flood of 1937 proved to be one of the worst disasters that greater Cincinnatians ever witnessed and it would forever change the landscape of the river cities. Damages where upward of $65 million but miraculously, only 8 people died.
But why was there so much rain that January that inevitably caused the flood? Here is the scientific answer stated at the time by C. L. Mitchell of the National Weather Bureau:
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 south, and the dense, cold air of polar origin that came in over the Ohio and middle Mississippi Valleys on 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 moist air of tropical origin resulted in abundant precipitation.
But perhaps an even better answer came from an exhausted W.C. Devereaux who when asked by a reporter about what had happened simply said:
"If we hadn't had so much rain, there wouldn't have been a flood."
As we look back on that dreadful winter 84 years ago, I’ll share some of the experiences and photos greater Cincinnatians have passed down to us, so that we may forever remember what our ancestors went through during those horrible 19 days in greater Cincinnati.
Thank you for sharing this my grandparents and parents would tell us this bit of history love seeing the historical facts and photo's