The Great Flood of 1913 occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain. Related deaths and damage in the United States were widespread and extensive. While the exact number is not certain, flood-related deaths in Ohio, Indiana, and eleven other states are estimated at 650. The official death toll range for Ohio falls between 422 and 470. Flood-related death estimates in Indiana range from 100 to 200. More than a quarter million people were left homeless. The death toll from the flood of 1913 places it second to the Johnstown Flood of 1889 as one of the deadliest floods in the United States. The flood remains Ohio's largest weather disaster. In the Midwestern United States, damage estimates exceeded a third of a billion dollars. Damage from the Great Dayton Flood at Dayton, Ohio, exceeded $73 million. Indiana's damages were estimated at $25 million (in 1913 dollars). Further south, along the Mississippi River, damages exceeded $200 million. Devastation from the flood of 1913 and later floods along the Mississippi River eventually changed the country's management of its waterways and increased federal support for comprehensive flood prevention and funding for flood control projects. The Ohio Conservancy Act, which was signed by the governor of Ohio in 1914, became a model for other states to follow. The act allowed for the establishment of conservancy districts with the authority to implement flood control projects.
The storm system that produced the flood in late March 1913 began with a typical winter storm pattern, but developed characteristics that promoted heavy precipitation. Strong Canadian winds stalled a high-pressure system off Bermuda and delayed the normal easterly flow of a low-pressure system. In the meantime, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico moved into the Midwestern United States through the Mississippi River valley as a second Canadian high-pressure system arrived from the west, creating a low-pressure trough that stretched from southern Illinois, across central Indiana, and into northern Ohio. At least two low-pressure systems moving along the trough caused heavy rain over the four-day period between March 23 and March 26. As the storm gained strength on Sunday, March 23, high winds, hail, sleet, and tornadoes arrived in the Great Plains, the Southern United States, and the Midwestern United States. Major tornadoes hit Omaha, Nebraska; Lone Peach, Arkansas; and Terre Haute, Indiana. On Monday and Tuesday, March 24 and 25, of rain fell in Ohio, Indiana, and southern Illinois. Major rivers in Indiana and Ohio experienced heavy runoff. Downstream, where the Ohio River enters the Mississippi River, the water level broke record highs to that time as the water flowed south to the Gulf of Mexico. By Tuesday, March 25, the Ohio River and its tributaries flooded cities such as Indianapolis, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Youngstown, and Columbus, Ohio. Dayton, Ohio, was particularly hard-hit. On Wednesday, March 26, the storm moved east into Pennsylvania and New York, while heavy rain continued in the Ohio River valley. The heaviest rainfall, or more, covered an area from southern Illinois into northwestern Pennsylvania. As the storm continued eastward, flooding began in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Virginia. The Potomac River overflowed its banks in Maryland.
State and local communities handled much of their own disaster response and relief in 1913. The American Red Cross, a small organization at that time, focused its efforts in more than one hundred of Ohio's hardest-hit communities, including Dayton, and served six of Indiana's hardest-hit counties. Ohio governor James M. Cox called on the state legislature to appropriate $250,000 ($ in dollars) for emergency aid. Indiana governor Samuel M. Ralston appealed to Indiana cities and other states for relief assistance. Many communities cared for their own flood victims with Red Cross assistance, charitable donations, and contributions from local businesses, industries, and service organizations.
Affected areas The storms that created the floods in 1913 continued over several days and produced record-breaking rain. It remains Ohio's "largest weather disaster" and triggered Indiana's worst flood on record. Storm-related flooding affected more than a dozen states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. The same weather system caused major tornadoes in the Great Plains, the South, and the Midwest, most notably in Omaha, Nebraska; Lone Peach, Arkansas; and Terre Haute, Indiana.
Dayton, Ohio
Between March 23 and 25, heavy rains and rising waters from the Great Miami River burst levees on Dayton's south side and flooded of the city. Dayton's downtown streets experienced water deep. On March 26, as floodwaters reached their crest, Dayton's business district suffered more damage after an early morning fire and gas explosion. An estimated 123 people were killed in Dayton. Downstream in nearby Hamilton, Ohio, about 100 people died after water deep flowed into its residential neighborhoods.
Columbus, Ohio
In Columbus, the Near West Side and parts of downtown experienced severe floods. Approximately 93 people died in the flooding. The event was described by historian Ed Lentz as "the worst catastrophe in the history of Columbus".
Indianapolis, Indiana
Approximately of rain fell on Indianapolis over the period of March 23 through March 26, inundating nearly a area and causing five known deaths.Unconfirmed deaths numbered as many as twenty-five. See Bodenhamer and Barrows, p. 582. On March 26, floodwaters estimated at above flood stage destroyed Indianapolis's Washington Street bridge, the main connection over the White River. High water forced 4,000 to flee their homes on the city's near west side when an earthen levee failed and a wall of water flooded an area nearly a wide around Kentucky Avenue and Morris Street.Williams, p. 172. The city's transportation and water supply were disrupted for nearly four days in flooded areas and as many as 7,000 Indianapolis families lost their homes.
Contributing factors
Weather The weather pattern that triggered heavy rains over the Midwest began after strong Canadian winds stalled a high-pressure system off Bermuda and delayed the normal easterly flow of a low-pressure system. As moist air from the Gulf of Mexico moved into the Midwest through the Mississippi River valley, a second Canadian high-pressure system arrived from the west and squeezed the low into a trough that stretched from southern Illinois, across central Indiana, and into northern Ohio. At least two low-pressure systems moving in quick succession along the trough dumped one rainstorm after another. The weather pattern changed little over the four-day period of March 23 through March 26 and caused heavy rain over the Ohio River valley. The heaviest rainfall, or more, covered an area from southern Illinois into northwestern Pennsylvania.The area covered approximately and included a population of approximately five million based on the 1910 census. See Louisville, Kentucky, experienced the storm's heaviest recorded rainfall rate of in twenty-eight minutes on March 25.
Other factors contributing to the extensive flooding were the storm's size, its duration, and existing ground conditions. Rivers and streams affected by the flood were at near normal or below flood stage levels two days prior to the major flooding in Indiana and Ohio. Some experts argue that the ground may have become quickly saturated, resulting in runoff and flash flooding. Others have suggested that frozen ground in tributary watersheds contributed to the flooding along the rivers. Up to of snow followed the heavy rain in northern Indiana. In some areas thawed ground and a lack of snowpack may have minimized the destruction from runoff and flooding.
Watersheds Rivers rose several feet above previous high-water marks in Ohio and Indiana after heavy rains at the headwaters of the region's rivers moved downstream. The area's rivers experienced heavy runoff, especially along the Muskingum, Scioto, Great Miami, and Wabash rivers. The Scioto River basin in central Ohio recorded a flood level of , which remains a record nearly higher than its other recorded floods. The Great Miami River and its tributaries, including the Whitewater River in Indiana, rose at least higher than previous flood levels in many locations. Downstream from Indiana and Ohio, where the Ohio River enters the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois, the water level reached and broke record highs to that time. High waters continued to flow south to the Gulf of Mexico, causing some levees to fail in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. Water from flood-crested rivers flowing into the Mississippi River in April set new height records downriverBell, "Forgotten Waters", Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, p. 6. and caused cities such as Memphis, Tennessee; Natchez, Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana; and elsewhere along the Mississippi to prepare for flooding.Williams, p. 283.
Timeline The storm system that produced the flood in late March began with a typical winter storm pattern, but soon developed special characteristics that promoted heavy precipitation.
Friday, March 21 A series of nine tornadoes associated with the same weather system that produced the flood sweeps through the Gulf States of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, leveling towns, killing 48 people, and injuring 150. A blizzard hits twenty states and kills 21 people.Williams, p. 5. Temperatures drop below freezing in the Midwest, while hurricane-force winds move into Ontario, Canada.Bell, "Forgotten Waters", Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, pp. 7, 9. Record-setting winds reach in Indianapolis, Indiana; in Louisville, Kentucky; in Toledo, Ohio; in Detroit, Michigan; and in Buffalo, New York. Saturday, March 22 Ice begins to melt and winds die down.Bell, "Forgotten Waters", Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, p. 9. Sunday, March 23 The storm gains strength. High winds and sleet in the Midwest topple buildings, telephone and telegraph poles, and overhead wires, disrupting electric services and severely limiting communications within the Midwest and with areas west of the Mississippi River. The storm keeps the U.S. Weather Bureau from collecting timely information about the weather system and communicating weather warnings in advance of the storm. A high-pressure system moves northeast over New England and a low-pressure system is over Colorado. Southerly winds increase between the two systems as warm and moist air enters the Great Plains and the Ohio River valley. Gusty winds produce a dust storm in Kansas, while Missouri is hit with hail and heavy rain, and a series of funnel clouds move across Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, and Indiana. The number of tornadoes range from six to twelve, but at least six strike the Midwest, killing approximately 221 people and injuring 761.Williams, pp. 23–24. Major tornadoes hit Omaha, Nebraska. The event ranks as Nebraska's deadliest.Williams, p. viii. A tornado hits Terre Haute, Indiana, that same evening.Batic and Giacomelli, p. 6. The storm moves into Michigan. Winds of , gusting up to , are reported in Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. Monday, March 24 The first low-pressure system from the storm weakens and moves northeast from the Great Lakes into eastern Canada and New England. The system stalls over the Ohio River basin and triggers more rain and thunderstorms. A second low-pressure system that developed in Colorado merges with a third low that forms over western Texas.