Flood Was 54 Years Ago

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03fc8c00dkelyh.png"> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <A HREF="id170.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pictures of the 1951 Flood"><B><IMG SRC="0410b120.png" border=0 width="11" height="18" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A><B>   </B><A HREF="july_2007_flood.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July 2007 Flood"><B><IMG SRC="0420b120.png" border=0 width="11" height="18" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A><B>     </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="18" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="18"><B>  </B><A HREF="id91.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flood of 51"><B><IMG SRC="04312120.png" border=0 width="18" height="18" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="77" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 30 WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="30" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>Ottawa Herald Article contributed by Morgan Williams</B></I></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=94 BGCOLOR="#FF3300" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0403c5e1dvmwlb.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Ottawa High School Class of '57</B></FONT><B>     |    </B><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ottawa High School Class of 57"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id170.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pictures of the 1951 Flood">Pictures of the 1951 Flood</A>   |   <B>Flood Was 54 Years Ago</B>   |   <A HREF="july_2007_flood.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July 2007 Flood">July 2007 Flood</A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=386 width="100%" colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Flood Was 54 Years Ago</I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>JULY, 1951 FLOOD WAS THE “GRANDDADDY” </B></div> <div> <B>The great Marais des Cygnes flood was fifty-four years ago</B></div> <div> <B>Officially, June 1951 was the wettest month in Kansas history</B></div> <bR> <div> By Alex Grant , Special to The Herald</div> <div> The Ottawa Herald, Ottawa, Kansas</div> <bR> <div> When the flood warnings sounded in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 11, 1951, residents of the town didn't think twice. They were used to the procedure, actually, for Ottawa was a veteran city in the manner of floods.</div> <bR> <div> By 1951, Ottawa had experienced as many as four floods a year through its 85 years of existence. This flood, however, brought new meaning to the word “disaster” because when it rained, it poured.</div> <bR> <div> Officially, June 1951 was the wettest month in Kansas history. An average of 9.6 inches of rainfall during the month caused the worst floods the state had known since 1903. It did not seem fathomable that it could rain much more during the summer.</div> <bR> <div> But it did.</div> <bR> <div> “I'd never seen so much water pour down in my life,” said Ed Sexton, a resident of Ottawa in 1951.</div> <bR> <div> By July 6, the effects of scattered showers were beginning to be felt. The saturated ground drained the water in sheets toward the rivers, but by July 9 this trend was reversed. Rivers started to fall, and Ottawa residents believed the worst was over.</div> <bR> <div> But torrential rains began to fall once more, and on July 11, Ottawans stared in disbelief as floodwaters of the Marais des Cygnes River climbed angrily above the record mark set in 1928.</div> <bR> <div> Word passed quickly that the city's water plant would succumb to the flood.  According to then-City Engineer A.J. Jefferis, trying to hold floodwaters out of the plant was a back-breaking and futile task. “It would have been impossible to keep the water out, now that I look back on it,” Jefferis said.</div> <div> Jefferis shut down the water and light plant Wednesday afternoon. As a result, residents were thrust into a world of sheer darkness while experiencing a life without water.</div> <bR> <div> Crowds were held back by national guardsmen as store owners and merchants moved out of their buildings, and by Wednesday evening the floodwaters covered an estimated 150 blocks of the city. Five business buildings in North Ottawa reportedly were washed away by the floodwaters.  “Water was as high as 17 feet in the business district,” said Marge Sexton, Ed's wife.</div> <bR> <div> On Thursday, July 12, conditions in Ottawa worsened. Sandbagging crews worked frantically to save telephone poles so the city would not be without communication. Not a single main highway was open, causing travelers to be stranded in Ottawa's two hotels.</div> <bR> <div> Ottawa's National Guard unit faced many difficult tasks. The biggest, however, was evacuating families from the flooded areas. From the time the unit went on duty Monday afternoon, it handled calls from 154 families seeking assistance in moving. The Red Cross estimated that 27,000 people throughout Kansas were homeless and thousands of acres of farmland were under water.</div> <bR> <div> As the floods continued through July 15, Ottawa faced even more challenges.  The city was without pure water and was in danger of exhausting its food supplies. Ambulances transported sick people to private homes and to Ransom Memorial Hospital, depending on the severity of patients' conditions.  Planes rushed emergency supplies, vaccines and vital machinery to stricken areas.</div> <bR> <div> Planes even ferried doctors from South Ottawa to North Ottawa for emergencies, Franklin County Historical Society Director Deborah Barker said.</div> <div> The Marais des Cygnes crested at 42.25 feet, and floodwaters stretched as far south as Fifth Street.</div> <bR> <div> As the water began to recede, some people went back to their ruined homes and started work. Others said they would never go back. The weary people of Ottawa rolled up their sleeves and began the task of re-establishing their lives.</div> <bR> <div> Despite total damages exceeding $6 million, residents were determined to make their city bigger and better than ever before. The city had experienced enough pounding floods to learn to “roll with the punches and come up again.”</div> <bR> <div> As Ottawa faces the new millennium, its residents can be certain that now they are ready for almost any water Mother Nature may pour their way. Since the flood of 1951, the city has taken steps to safeguard itself against future destruction.</div> <bR> <div> In 1956, the passage of a $770,000 bond issue, Ottawa's share of a $3 million federal expenditure of an Army Engineers Flood Control project, marked the beginning of the city's preventive measures. A controlled plan recommended by army engineers for the Marais des Cygnes was introduced to legislation soon after.</div> <bR> <div> The plan called for nine impounding reservoirs and channel improvement works at Ottawa. In operation, these reservoirs would temporarily hold back large portions of the run-off from the main streams and tributaries of the river, then release this water in an orderly manner.</div> <bR> <div> As a result of this plan, Pomona and Melvern dams and reservoirs were constructed on the upper Marais des Cygnes. Today, these two essential units of flood control provide important discharge reductions in the river, while providing protection to thousands of acres of land.</div> <bR> <div> If Ottawa were to face a major flood today, extra water would be stored temporarily and let out when it became safe downstream. Dikes around the city and floodgates at its river bridges also protect the city. All of this is a true benefit to hundreds of Ottawans who have suffered many losses.</div> <bR> <div> “After the flood of 1951, my wife and I moved to another town,” Sexton said, “but now I wouldn't be afraid to return.” </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>