Last Thursday evening, November 4, Wellsville historian Bob Lloyd presented his program entitled The Floods of Wellsville. The program was sponsored by the Carnegie Public Library.
Lloyd is a retired railroader and a long time history buff. He's a member of the Wellsville Historical Society and the historian for the Volunteer Fire Dept. Lloyd noted when he retired from the railroad he decided to pursue his passion on collecting historical pictures of the ville and investigating their history.
Recorded history of Wellsville floods goes back to 1832 when a flood called the "Pumpkin Flood" occurred. There is no record of the depth of the flood but it was noted for the numbers of pumpkins floating in the flood waters. The flood occurred in the early fall before the pumpkins were harvested.
It wasn't until 1884 that statistics on floods were first recorded. The 1884 flood was the worse in history up to that point. The waters crested 44 feet above flood stage causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss of property.
Pictured above is the Mission Evangelical Church when the flood of 1884 started to recede. The church was located at 3rd & Lisbon Streets were the BP gas station is today. The picture is one of the photos in Lloyd's collection. There is a telephone/electrical pole on the far left with a darkened area at the bottom. We believe that darkened section depicts the high water mark in the 1884 flood.
The grand daddy of Wellsville floods happened 52 years later in 1936. Flood waters crested at 51.5 feet. It was estimated that 700 to 800 homes suffered flood damage in Wellsville. The Pittsburgh newspapers named the 1936 flood the St. Patrick's Day Flood. However, it was two days later the flood crested in Wellsville on March 19th.
With the flood damage running into millions of dollars all up & down the Ohio Valley Congress decided it was time to take action. As a result Wellsville was selected to get a flood control system consisting of flood walls, dikes, gates and pumps.
Before the system was fully erected and used there were two additional floods equalling the 1884 flood. Both were in 1937. In late January of that year the water crested at 44 feet. Nearly three months later the water crested at 43 feet on April 27.
The flood control system was first put to the test in late December of 1942 when flood waters crested at 47.5 feet. Although there were leaks found at the base of the gates it didn't amount to too much trouble. The system held the water for the most part. The pumps were able to take care of the water seeping in under the gates.
There have been 14 floods since 1942 where the flood control system has done it's duty. Approaching its 70th birthday the system today needs help that will required at least a couple of million of dollars worth of repairs. Village officials have been working on getting financial help especially with replacing the pumps.
It's been said that those who don't know our history are doomed to repeat it. Fortunately Wellsville has citizens like Bob Lloyd who have documented our flood history and is willing to share it with anyone.
Thanks to Bob and the good folks at Wellsville's Library for a most interesting program. The pictures are like traveling in a time capsule...
ole nib
2 comments:
Well, Nib,
I have to say, that thanks to
Bill Smith, the Village is in
a very very bad position as far
as flooding goes. We have been
dropped from FEMA and if I did my job the way he did, I would be
fired. There is no reason he or the Village Administration can give
for the situation Wellsville is now in because they all neglected
to get the funding we needed to
maintain FEMA participation in case
of flooding. Please tell me what is more important than that! The elected and appointed officials should be answering and solving this problem. It is their job
Someone explain to me, why they
didn't do it. and leave out the
stupid reasons, and get real about
what is lacking here. It is not the Army Corp. of Engineers job to
fund our problems, just to let us
know what they are/ It is time for
Council and the Fire Chief, who should have been fired, for this
disaster, and our adminsistration
to learn the job they are to do
and if they can't, get the hell out of there and let someone else
do it.
Truth - You seem intent on bashing our Fire Chief and the current administration. We're beginning to wonder if your vehemence is slanted with revenge of a personal nature and this subject is just another bullet for to get back for some perceived wrong.
Whatever the case, the neglect of the flood system goes back a lot longer than our Chief or anyone in the current administration. Remember it is almost 70 years old. What should have been instituted as routine maintenance of the system 50 to 60 years ago was neglected. At first, we suspect, it was neglected because it was new and then as time rolled on it was a case of damned if you don't and damned if you do.
Back in the early sixties when the ville lost the rail yards money started getting scarce for infrastructure programs. It got worse in the early 80s when Crucible closed the gates. From the closing of the rail yards on Wellsville's population has slowly dwindled taking with them tax money.
Instead of firing the Chief you should commend him for having the fortitude to bring this situation to light. He's been proactive as the Flood Control officer for some time. This is not new as you want to insinuate.
Can you come up with a realistic remedy to make this better? How would you finance it in lieu of the government, on all levels, from local to Federal just shrugging their shoulders? Smith has been doing his job with the backing of the Administration. He has approached everyone on all levels trying to find funding.
There is no money available. Instead of pointing your finger come up with a workable solution. What do you suggest?
nib
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