Flood Wall Exercise

Lord willin' and the creek don't rise the Wellsville firefighters will be conducting a flood wall exercise on Saturday, June 27. As mentioned yesterday, WFD Chief Bill Smith announced the exercise at this week's Council meeting. The complete agenda is still being finalized and we only have a date at this point. We'll let you know what time it begins later on.

Since 1942 the flood wall has saved Wellsville residents and businesses millions of dollars avoiding damages from flood waters. The idea of the flood wall came about after the devastating 1936 flood. That flood crested at 56 feet and just about covered the whole town. The 1936 flood was in the month of March. A neighbor once told me the water reached the mantle of the fire place in my house.

In June of 1936 the politicians in D.C. introduced the Flood Control Act in Congress. Construction on the flood wall began in 1938 and was completed in 1942. The whole flood control system is a combination of earthen dams and concrete walls. Openings such as the one on Wells/Lisbon streets are closed off with massive timbers, tarps and sandbags. A retired member of the WVFD told me they still use the same timbers that came when the flood wall was originally built. It was first used in the New Year's flood of 1943 pictured above.

Every few years they conduct a training exercise to get everyone involved familiar with the procedure of erecting the flood wall gates and is normally done on the one at the end of the Wells Avenue bridge. It's a refresher for the veteran firefighters and a learning exercise for the newer members. It's something to see. Even the Boy-and-the Boot is watching the action in the 1943 picture. It was last used for a flood in 2004.

Also pictured is a couple of "sketches" or blue prints used in the construction of the flood wall. Thanks go out to the Elliotts for the info on their web site. You can check it yourself at http://www.elliottdesigns.net/. Also, thanks once again to Bob Lloyd for the pictures. The pictures are from Bob's Flood Program he put together for the Wellsville Historical Society. You can click on the pictures to enlarge.

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