Appalachian History

The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG, LETCHER COUNTY, KENTUCKY.
THURSDAY JUNE 2 1927

"16 KNOWN DEAD IN FLOOD"

The death list of the terrific storm which swept Letcher County Sunday night has mounted to sixteen, with reports coming in which indicate that it may reach twenty.

Property damage cannot be estimated. Homes are destroyed, livestock and poultry drowned, and whole farms practically ruined. The fury of the flood far exceeded anything that has ever hit this area in its history.

Numbers of the dead have been found, but searchers are still at their gruesome task of tearing into drifts along the banks of the streams in hopes of finding bodies. Loved ones anxiously await some word from the searchers.

Mrs. Nannie Collins, on Rockhouse, died after her family had to be moved out of the home on account of rising water, but she was already at the point of death, and it is thought that the flood did not contribute to her death.

The bodies of the little Boggs child and Breeding child have not been found yet; but, so far as reports here go, all others have been recovered.

Original caption reads: Letcher County, Kentucky. Thunderstorm on Pine Mountain.

The storm has left desolation in its wake. A large number of homes that escaped the death toll do not have food or clothing, except as it is furnished by neighbors, the L. & N. railroad and the Red Cross.

Train service has been cut off, telephone and telegraph service is practically destroyed, and the North fork of the Kentucky River is in a world by itself. The extent of the storm cannot be determined.

Nobody is going hungry, so far as is known. There is enough food in the valley to last several days, and arrangements have been made by which more supplies can be brought in through the Big Sandy valley if they are needed before the train service can be restored.

Volunteers are busy with rescue and reconstruction work everywhere, and a heroic effort is being made to heal the wounds inflicted by the angry storm.

Red Cross headquarters at Washington, D. C., volunteered help; and the local committee, under the direction of Chairman C. H. Burton, is furnishing aid wherever a need can be found.

Elsiecoal was the first place to be reached. The work there was turned over by Mr. Burton to Dr. Collier, railroad surgeon, who is taking care of the situation at that place.

All mining work has been stopped, and many men are out of employment. It is estimated by the operators that the work will be held up from a few days to several weeks, depending upon the extent of the damage at the different places.

The greatest loss of life and property was in the heads of small streams. It appears that the rain Sunday night came in cloud-burst fury, flooding the narrow gorges and trapping people before they knew what was upon them. It is in these isolated places throughout the county that the greatest suffering will result, men who are studying the situation say.


source: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kyletch/articles/flood.htm



Letcher+County+KY floods appalachia appalachian+history history+of+appalachia

It was the city’s worst flood up to that time. The March 1924 deluge left most of Westernport MD, which sits in a valley at the confluence of the North Branch of the Potomac River and Wills Creek, under water.

Original caption: This was the scene March 29, 1924, just after the Westernport-Piedmont bridge washed out from high waters of the raging Potomac River. Heavy snows followed by a warm rain brought on the trouble.

A nor'easter had struck on March 10th and 11th, bringing between 10 to 15 inches of heavy snowfall to Maryland’s Allegany and Garrett Counties. High winds during those two nights blew down utility poles and crippled telephone, telegraph, and lighting systems.

Several weeks were required to restore wire service, and railroad and inter-urban electric schedules were interrupted until poles could be removed from tracks. The loss of poles and wires was estimated at nearly $1 million.

Original caption: This old auto didn’t quite have the horses to make it home and was trapped in the rising waters at 3rd and Lyons Street, Piedmon. The William Frederick residence is in the foreground with Trinity Methodist Church immediately behind.

Another nor'easter struck on the 21st, this time dumping 15 to 20 inches of snow locally. The month’s heavy snow left many roads blocked, and winds produced high drifts in some cases 15 to 20 feet high. There was 3 to 4 feet of snow covering the mountains. Then, on March 28, the temperature topped 70 degrees at Cumberland.

Heavy rains moved in overnight into the 29th, with over an inch and a half falling in 6 hours. By 8 am, the gauge on the Potomac in Cumberland had already risen almost 4 feet from the previous day. The Potomac rose at a rate of 1 foot per hour until 3 pm, then 1.5 feet per hour until 6 pm, when it peaked at a height of 19 feet and 2.5 inches. Westernport was 5 to 6 feet under water. A family of 5 were drowned at Kitzmiller.

The Luke mill halted operations for about three weeks due to damage from the high waters.

The entire Luke mill was flooded. A total of 289 motors and related pieces of equipment were underwater. No. 3 machine basement was filled with mud and sand up to the level of the windows. The mill’s water intake also received damage from the raging waters.

Mr. Allan Luke was Mill Manager at the time, with “Pop” Baker serving as Chief Engineer. Baker inspected the flood damage in the mill yard on horseback.

Ferry boats were kept busy after the flood taking passengers from one side of the river to the other. A month after the flood, the Western Maryland Railway Bridge had been repaired, but the highway bridge between Westernport and Piedmont was still out.

---'The Great Flood of 1924,' April May 1969 newsletter, Westvaco Fine Papers Division/Luke, MD

Westvaco (then called West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company) wasn’t the only key business in town decimated by the flood. The town’s other major employer, the American Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Company, also experienced production delays and financial problems because of it.

Damages resulting from the flood ran between $3 million and $4 million (around $36-48 million in 2009 dollars).

The 1924 flooding was the final nail in the coffin of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The canal, which ran from Cumberland to Georgetown alongside the Potomac River, had been in operation since 1850. But the costly repairs that would have been required weren’t worth it for a business already deep in financial woes.

Original caption: Transportation takes many forms when necessary. This is the ferry boat that was put in operation after the bridge washed out.


sources: http://modern-us-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/western_maryland_floods_of_1924
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/Historic_Events/md-winter.html
April May 1969 newsletter, Westvaco Fine Papers Division/Luke, MD: http://usgwarchives.org/md/allegany/history/1924flood1.jpg



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