'We're Going to Have a Flood'
Thursday, January 21, 1937
PORTSMOUTH, OHIO — Portsmouth was in trouble. Despite its concrete floodwall and despite sandbagging and other drastic measures, the city was bracing for its first flood in 24 years, the record 1913 deluge that caused city leaders to erect the three-mile-long, 62-foot floodwall that was completed in 1931.
At 1 p.m. today the Ohio River measured 59.77 feet. The river was climbing at a rate of one-tenth of a foot every hour as heavy rain fell. It was expected to continue into the night, with a chance of snow on Friday.
“Continual rains throughout the Ohio river watershed made a flood in the famous Floodwall City probable,” reported The Portsmouth Times. “Local river men had expressed hope Wednesday that the rainfall for yesterday would be absorbed by the wide rivers, but the rainfall proved too heavy.”
Frank E. Sheehan, Portsmouth’s city manager, sounded the warning this afternoon. He told people located in low areas of the city to move their perishable items and to be ready to get to higher ground if, or when, the water came in.
“We will continue to keep water out of the city as long as we possibly can,” Sheehan said, “but if it appears certain that the river will go above the 62-foot mark, which our floodwall protects, there is nothing that can be done to prevent a flood.”
In Cincinnati, U.S. Weather Bureau senior meteorologist W. C. Devereaux forecasted a 61-to-62-foot crest at Portsmouth by Saturday. However, Devereaux’s prediction only took into account rainfall through 8 a.m. this morning. Since it was still raining steadily in the Ohio Valley, including along tributaries, “city officials feared a flood will be likely.”
Warnings of All Kinds
City leadership devised a “series of warning signals” if a flood was “inevitable.”
Instructions were published in today’s newspaper. The following appeared on the front page in all capital letters:
FACTORY AND LOCOMOTIVE WHISTLES WILL BE BLOWN INTERMITTENTLY AT FIVE-MINUTE INTERVALS FOR A PERIOD OF HALF AN HOUR. WHEN THESE WHISTLE SIGNALS ARE HEARD, RESIDENTS OF THE LOW AREAS WILL HAVE ABOUT SIX HOURS TO EVACUATE.
The plan was to let the water come slowly into the city rather than pour over the wall. There would be a gradual opening of the sewer valves at the pumping stations when the river stage measured about 61.5 feet. The goal was to allow the Ohio to slip into town with the expectation that it would take many hours for the river and city to be at the same water level.
Warnings about letting the river into Portsmouth were also broadcast on the radio throughout the day.
Not all residents were in favor of the city’s plan, instead willing to sacrifice the floodwall. However, engineers were more or less unanimous that the wall’s destruction would be a worse outcome than allowing the Ohio River to slowly seep into Portsmouth through the sewer system.
It also seemed that none of the engineers believed the concrete barrier could withstand the mounting pressure of the rising river. The Ohio would win one way or another, a force of nature with a long history of jumping its channel.
In addition to factory and locomotive whistles, there would be other warnings if the sewer valves were to be opened. A police car outfitted with a loudspeaker would cruise the streets of the low-lying sections and continually broadcast emergency messages. And a small army of firemen, war veterans and legionnaires and Boy Scouts would go door-to-door to warn the most vulnerable residents of the coming flood.
Sheehan said, “There still is a possibility that the rate of rise in the river will drop off between now and the next several hours. In that case, of course, we may have no flood.”
William Craiger lived with his wife and four-year-old daughter at 613 Boundary Street east of downtown Portsmouth. He worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and recalled the river’s climb to the top of the floodwall.
“A big gang of us men were told to take trucks and haul sand to the floodwall.”
Whether on this day or earlier, William heard a clear, if different, message from Frank Sheehan.
“The city manager was at the Front Street floodwall … telling everybody that the water wasn’t coming into the city.”
Even so, by this afternoon, the no-flood scenario seemed unlikely as the rain pounded Portsmouth.
A Coordinated Response
“We shall do everything we possibly can up until the last moment to protect the city as long as we can,” said Sheehan.
The city manager and other officials were organizing and coordinating a response for a disaster in the city deemed “flood-proof” a year earlier. The Red Cross, Bureau of Community Service, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Boy Scouts and other organizations were preparing to help as needed.
Boats from dams 30 and 32 arrived at Portsmouth, and a major in the U.S. engineers stationed down the river in Cincinnati told Sheehan a steamboat and barge were en route to help the city if necessary.
The National Guard was on call and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had already dispatched men to Portsmouth. WPA and other workers continued to fill sandbags to protect against seepage along the levees.
Emergency shelter on higher ground was being arranged, including at school buildings, vacant buildings and the Dreamland pool.
The town was shutting down.
Closings and Preparations
As the rain fell throughout the day, downtown merchants moved goods higher and boarded up their businesses. Carpenters at Norfolk & Western Railway prepared for boat construction.
Stores moved inventory upstairs and closed, even while advertisements in today’s newspaper tried to entice shoppers.
Brown’s on Gallia Street was offering coats and dresses at close-out prices. Fur coats were under $60 and fur-trimmed coats were available for as little as $15. Dresses were marked down to two for $5, with “nearly 100 to choose from.”
Montgomery Ward on Sixth Street advertised specials on silk hose, rayon bloomers, men’s leather sole work shoes, moleskin work pants, wool socks, roller skates, steam irons and house paint.
But shopping for non-essential items was unlikely to be on today’s to-do list for Portsmouth residents.
Boards were nailed to downtown store windows such as Atlas Fashion and the J.C. Penney Company. At Glockner Chevrolet a four-man crew hauled machines from the bottom floor. Workers at Kobacker’s moved merchandise out of harm’s way, emptying shelves at street level. Three men at the Columbia Theater opened a sidewalk display to remove movie signs, including “One in a Million,” a musical starring Norwegian figure skater and Olympic champion Sonja Henie.
Factories made plans to suspend operations depending on water levels.
Public schools completed the semester and closed. The school board met in a special session to coordinate movement of equipment and to turn buildings into shelters for flood refugees. The schools also became storage facilities for people’s furniture, which was carried to upper floors.
“No one will go hungry,” Sheehan vowed. “Our own and outside agencies have come to the fore magnificently in the preparations to take care of the city if there is a flood.”
The city manager strongly encouraged people to find lodging with family and friends to lessen the strain on relief resources. Meanwhile, trucks hauled furniture and other personal belongings to higher ground.
A Vigilant Defense
The levees were holding — at least so far — although there was a lot of seepage as the Ohio and Scioto rivers crept higher.
Hundreds of men were defending the city along a five-mile front, “exerting every effort to keep out the water.”
The Scioto levee and Norfolk & Western Railway levee were said to be in “good shape,” and city officials took an optimistic view of the overall strength of the levees and their ability to hold back the rivers. As seepage occurred, men plugged the holes with sandbags. It required constant, around-the-clock vigilance.
Under the supervision of Fire Chief Robert Leedom, Portsmouth firemen exhibited similar vigilance along the city’s famous floodwall, “patrolling every inch.” Today’s noon report said the city’s Ohio-facing barrier was in “good condition.”
Thousands of Sandbags
At the floodwall, men stacked sandbags on top of the wall, two bags high. They also placed sandbags on the west side of Scioto Street, creating a supplemental barrier.
Other westside property was flooded, including yards north of Fourth Street extending from Jefferson to the west, as well as the neighborhoods between Fourth and Fifth streets. Families were leaving or preparing to leave.
At Portsmouth Sand & Gravel Company, dozens of men filled sandbags that were loaded onto dozens of trucks and delivered to various areas for reinforcing the city’s flood defense. The sandbag crew was increased on Wednesday night and trucks from the city, county, state, CCC and WPA were added to the emergency operation. The State Highway and Scioto County engineer departments supplied trucks to transport sand for more than 20,000 sandbags.
The WPA had 2,800 workers in Portsmouth. Arriving from Chillicothe last night, WPA district administrator L.L. Henninger placed the complete WPA workforce under the city’s supervision. In addition, Floyd Fuller reassigned the entire truck fleet of Portsmouth Sand & Gravel Company to the city.
Burlap Bags Falling from the Sky
Corrine Obrist recalled how the Selby Shoe Company “let their employees out and paid them to go and fill pillow slips with sand.” She also remembered “huge burlap bags” being flown into Portsmouth by way of Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The arrival of the bags was a spectacle, as she explained. “There was a big circle up here in the railroad yard … of lime … and to watch them drop those bags in that circle from the airplane was interesting.” People crowded onto the Eighth Street viaduct to watch “when they knew the plane was coming at a certain time.”
Pumping Operations
All city pump stations were operating effectively.
Additional pumping resources were tested and deployed. A steam engine belonging to the B&O Railroad was powering three pumps located at the intersection of Fourth and Madison. A pair of pumps were dedicated to the removal of rain, seepage and sewage.
Clover Kegley recalled how her father helped during the crisis. He was confined to Portsmouth, unable to travel by car out of the city in any direction. Frank Sheehan put him to work operating the Mill Street pump station.
Mr. Kegley was well qualified.
“[M]y father had been the chief engineer at the waterworks at the time the 1913 floodwall was built,” Clover later said.
The old engineer foresaw a wet future.
“[I] know what the wall will hold, and I know what’s coming down the river,” Mr. Kegley said. “And we’re going to have a flood. They won’t let me say it yet, but we’re going to have it.”
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The slow motion disaster is what makes this story so compelling for me. The details are extraordinary-- the discounted dresses, the removal of the movie posters... And burlap bags falling from the sky makes for a dreamlike apocalypse. Great writing.
Fascinating story, and well-written. The images of people's belongings being hauled to the schools to be stored upstairs, of the sandbags being filled, and more are engaging. You've given us a very human story that was a fine read. The flood coming at the town the way you describe it is like a hurricane coming at us in Florida. One would not think Florida is a place that floods, but it does -- usually brought to us by hurricanes. I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, from the time my mother brought me and my brother and sister here 71 years ago. I've seen floods here many times, some worse than others.