Great Flood of 1844
The Great Flood of 1844 is the biggest flood ever recorded on the Missouri River and Upper Mississippi River in terms of discharge. This flood was particularly devastating since the region had few or no levees at the time. Among the hardest hit were the Wyandot who lost 100 people to the diseases that occurred after the flood. The flood also is the highest recorded for the Mississippi River at St. Louis. After the flood, Congress in 1849 passed the Swamp Act, providing land grants to build stronger levees.
Potomac River Flood of 1877
The Potomac River Flood affected the whole length of the C&O Canal. Since Conococheague and Antietam Creeks were flooding as well, the worst damage was done to the middle of the canal. Damage totaled US $200,000 (1877 dollars). Navigation could not resume until the following April. A result of this flood was a telephone network being installed along the canal, which was the longest telephone circuit in the world at the time.
Ohio River Flood, February 1918
Ice jams due to a quick thaw led to the Ohio River Flood in February 1918. The river stage at Cincinnati climbed to nearly 62 feet during the event. Ice blocks in the river destroyed steamboats on the river, ending the era of steamboat commerce on the Ohio River.
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
From the summer of 1926 into the spring of 1927, much heavier rains than normal saturated the ground throughout eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Ohio Valley. The White and Little Red rivers broke through the levees in Arkansas in February, flooding over 100,000 acres with 10-15 feet of water. The first levee break along the Mississippi River occurred a few miles south of Elaine, AR on March 29. Over the next six weeks, numerous levees broke along the Mississippi River from Illinois to Louisiana, which inundated numerous towns in the Mississippi Valley. The break at Mounds Landing near Greenville, MI was the single greatest crevasse to ever occur along the Mississippi River. It single-handedly flooded an area 50 miles wide and 100 miles long with up to 20 feet of water. Heavy spring rains caused a second major flood in the same region that June. In all, 28,500 square miles which were home to more than 931,000 people were inundated. The flood finally subsided in August. The massive Red Cross relief effort was directed by then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, which later catapulted him into the presidency and made the New Deal a reality within the next decade.
In order to avoid flooding the city of New Orleans, the governor of Louisiana allowed engineers to create the Poydras cut, which saved the city but led to the flooding of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes instead. Millions of acres across seven states were flooded. Evacuees totaled 500,000. Economic losses were estimated at $1 billion (1927 dollars), which was equivalent to almost one-third of the federal budget at that time. Months after the event, perhaps as foreshadowing to the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster, congressmen were still looking for federal aid to help recover from the flood.
Los Angeles Flood of 1938
Two significant cyclones moved through the Los Angeles region; one between Feb. 27 and March 1 and the second between March 1-3. Over 10" of rain had fallen during the five-day period. Massive debris flows moved out from the San Gabriel Mountains into the Los Angeles Basin. Although Los Angeles County experienced damage, Riverside and Orange counties bore the brunt of the flooding. A total of 5,601 homes were destroyed, and an additional 1,500 homes were left uninhabitable. The three transcontinental railroads connecting Los Angeles to the outside world experienced washed out bridges and flooded lines, isolating the city. Mail service after the flood was conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard. The death toll was 115. It was the region's worst flood since New Year's Day of 1934. The result of this flood was the Flood Control Act of 1941, which authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a series of concrete sewers.
Great Flood of 1993 Along the Mississippi River
Soils became saturated in the fall of 1992 across the Midwest. Numerous rounds of showers and thunderstorms from mid-June into August led to significant flooding. Over 39" of rainfall fell in isolated spots. Some areas of the Mississippi Valley were flooded for over 200 days, leading to destruction spread across nine states. This was the flood of record along many of the streams and rivers that feed the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Around 50,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. The death toll was 50, and damage totaled US $15 billion (1993 dollars). The result of this flood was an aggressive campaign by the federal government to buy out flooded agricultural land from willing sellers.
Hurricane Katrina Storm Surge 2005
A large category 3 hurricane at landfall along the southeast tip of Louisiana, strong northerly flow behind Katrina while weakening to category 1 strength caused breaks and failures in the levees that protected the lower ninth ward and along other canals in New Orleans, flooding 80 percent of the city for nearly a month. The mouth of the Mississippi River saw breaks in its levee system due to storm surge. In Mississippi, a massive storm surge destroyed most structures along the coast including floating casinos, and preliminary figures show that the storm surge was higher than in Hurricane Camille of 1969. There were 1,353 fatalities, mostly from flooding. The effects of this flood are still widespread.
