Top 10 Historic U.S. Floods
In light of the current flooding of the Mississippi River, TIME’s Kayla Webley spoke to Robert Holmes, a flood expert with the U.S. Geological Survey, about some of the largest floods in America’s history
Mississippi River, 1927
Date: April-May 1927
Significance: Most destructive river flood in the history of the U.S.; 500 killed; 600,000 homeless
Holmes says: The sheer landmass involved in this flood makes it incredibly noteworthy. Across Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, some 16 million acres of land (26,000 square miles) were inundated with water from the mighty Mississippi. At Vicksburg, Mississippi, alone, the river was 80 miles wide. This flood shifted the influence of flood policy in the U.S., which is still impacting us today. Everything — our levee policies, the way we engineer all of these things — was built out of what people learned from the 1927 flood.
See dramatic photos of the Mississippi River flooding.
Ohio River, 1937
Date: January-February 1937
Significance: The flood of record for the Ohio River; $20 million in damages
Holmes says: The flooding was so widespread, people were left homeless some 30 miles away from the river. This impacted people for months — you had families moving in with other families for weeks on end. I grew up in southern Illinois and remember hearing about this flood as a kid. My grandmother went through it and, though she lived 20 miles away from the river, she had neighbors who had lost their homes staying with her.
Mississippi River, 1993
Date: May-October 1993
Significance: With more than $15 billion in damages, the flood was the second costliest on record; 50 flood-related deaths
Holmes says: In St. Louis, Missouri, the waters stayed at flood stage for 81 consecutive days. This is the flood that came and stayed forever. That’s the thing that sticks in my mind — that it lasted such a long time. I was young in my career at that point — I had been working as a hydrologist for only seven or eight years. I was out working on that flood for what seemed like forever.
Hurricane Katrina, 2005
Date: August-September 2005
Significance: With an estimated $81 billion in damages, Hurricane Katrina was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history; more than 1,800 died; 15 million people were impacted, economically or otherwise
Holmes says: Eighty percent of New Orleans was underwater and they are still feeling the impact today. The population of New Orleans has not rebounded. This hurricane, and the subsequent flooding, forever changed the city.
See photos of sorrow in New Orleans.
Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado, 1976
Date: July 31, 1976
Significance: $35.5 million in damages; 144 dead
Holmes says: Flash floods are incredibly devastating. Scientifically, they are quite interesting. You have a tremendous amount of water that comes in a very short amount of time. Anytime you get in these mountainous areas, you have a potential for a flash flood. This case sticks in my mind because of the intensity of the [water] as it rushed from the Rocky Mountains into Big Thompson Canyon in Colorado. The rain started in the evening of July 31 and by the wee hours of August 1, you had 12 inches of rain in this narrow canyon. The water speeds were very high and people were just washed away. They didn’t have an escape; it all happened very fast.
Full Top 10 List on Time.com
Rising Waters
- Mississippi River, 1927
- Ohio River, 1937
- Mississippi River, 1993
- Hurricane Katrina, 2005
- Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado, 1976
- Rapid City, S.D., 1972
- Galveston, Texas, 1900
- Johnstown, Pa., 1889
- Central Valley, California, 1861-62
- Hurricane Camille, 1969
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