In 1907 writer G. Fitch described the Missouri River as a river:
"that goes traveling sidewise, that interferes in politics, rearranges geography, and dabbles in real estate. It cuts corners, runs around at night, lunches on levees, and swallows islands and small villages for dessert."
 he Missouri River Basin
extends over 530,000 square miles and covers approximately a sixth of the continental United States. The Missouri
River's source streams are in the Bitterroot Mountains of northwestern Wyoming and southwestern Montana. The 2,341
mile-long Missouri River begins at Three Forks, Montana where the Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson rivers merge on a
low, alluvial plain.
Throughout recent history, the Missouri River has proven capable of thwarting almost every attempt to control it. The United States Army Corps of Engineers completed six large reservoirs along the "main-stem" of the Missouri in order to try to control floods and provide other benefits. However, as the flood of 1993 illustrates, the Missouri still has the potential for causing major problems.
Ice jam, snowmelt, and intense rainfall are all causes of floods which have occurred historically on the Missouri. Ironically, the main-stem reservoirs built in-part to control floods may exacerbate the ice jam problem because low wintertime discharges might facilitate ice formation. Floods along the Missouri River in Nebraska have
happened frequently; however, major floods have occurred in 1881, 1943, 1952, 1967, 1978, and 1993. The flood of record occurred in April, 1952.
Originally settled because of its proximity to the valuable river transportation of the Missouri River, settlers soon discovered that contending with floods was one of the prices they would have to pay for convenience.
Dating back to pioneer times, the first detailed report of Missouri River flooding in 1881 stated that three people died in northeastern Nebraska as a result of an ice jam breakage. The reports indicate that thousands of livestock were also killed and that entire towns were swept away by the torrent. The release of water, which was yellow with clay and debris from cornfields, trees, and houses, later flooded Omaha up to 9th Street. Several hundred yards of rip-rap "gave away like cheesecloth" before the floodwaters as they inundated
and consumed the Union Pacific coal and lumber yards. 'Ole Muddy' reportedly remained
at a high level for several weeks and, during the height of flooding, was reported to have been five miles wide.
Since shipping was one of the only forms of transportation, the industrial,
trade, and docking buildings were situated close to the river's edge and were severely damaged if not destroyed. Losses from this flood were said to be "in the millions," and in 1881 dollars that would equate to a major flood.
SOME HELPFUL TERMINOLOGY DEFINITIONS
| Crest: The highest level of a flood wave as
it passes a point. Also, the top of a dam, dike, levee, or spillway, to which water must rise before
passing over the structure.
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| Gage
Datum: The arbitrary "zero plane" from which all stage measurements are taken from. Usually
set below the natural bottom of the channel so all stage height readings will be greater than zero. |
| River
Stage: The height of a water surface
above an established "zero" plane, or Gage
Datum. |
| Flood Stage:
A height at which a watercourse
overtops its banks and begins to cause damage to any portion of the river valley. Flood stage is usually
higher than or equal to Bankful
Stage. |
| Bankfull
Stage: An established river stage at a
certain point along a river which is intended to represent the maximum safe water level which will not overflow the river banks
(flood) or cause any significant damage within the reach of the river |
| Cubic
Feet per Second (CFS): A measurement of water flow
representing one cubic foot of water (7.48 gallons) moving past a given point in one
second. One cfs equals about two acre-feet per day. |
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Another major flood occurred in April, 1943. Mountain and plains snow accumulations up to two feet melted rapidly with the arrival of sudden warm weather. This snowmelt emptied into the Missouri River all at once which, at the peak of flooding, spanned 15 miles between Decatur, Nebraska, and Onawa, Iowa.
At Omaha, the river crested at 22.45 feet and had a discharge of 200,000 cubic feet per second (CFS), or 89,760,000
gallons per minute. 3000 men helped fight the flood, but after a week, the surging Missouri River found a weak spot in
one of the temporary waterlogged earthen dikes that were constructed, and the battle was lost. 100 homes were
ravaged when the floodwater breached a new dike constructed at Locust Street.
The Omaha industrial section on Grace Street was flooded, and businesses were closed
for several days. Approximately 1000 people were evacuated from Carter Lake and East Omaha as the old Lake Florence bed filled,
spilling over the airport with a seven feet surge of muddy water in 18 hours. One person was killed in Omaha and the damage estimate there was $1.4 million.
At Tekamah, NE, water filled the then dry Lake Quinnebaugh. Downriver, earthen dikes at Pacific Junction and Hamburg held, but the big dike at Peru failed.
A new record crest was established in Omaha in 1947. In 1950, a flood of the same magnitude as the 1943 event occurred, but Omaha's new $6 million floodwall prevented any damages. Constructed as a result of the 1943 Pick-Sloan Plan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a levee/floodwall system to provide protection
against the then-projected 500-year (0.2% chance per-year) flood.
The Great Flood of 1952
The Second Great Flood: A repeat of 1881 leads to a new, manmade river channel.
Item of Interest: This past April, 2002 - marked the 50th anniversary of this natural
catastrophe - the "Great Flood of 1952".
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Water creeps onto Sioux City Airport despite a heroic battle during the great flood of '52 |
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It would become one of the greatest April Fool's jokes in this area's history. On April 1st 1952, George Stutts, a Missouri River engineer, inspected the levees at Rulo,
Nebraska, and declared that there was no threat of a flood in northwest Missouri.
It started with snow pack melting under an early spring sun. Raging mountain streams swollen with snow pack runoff,
flowed through tributaries and into the Jefferson, Gallatin and Jefferson Rivers. These three historical rivers merge
at Three Forks, Montana to form the headwaters of the Missouri River. The Montana snows were deep and melted quickly.
Above normal Spring temperatures promoted massive snow melt conditions. Runoff washed down through tributaries
and on into the Missouri River. The quickly rising river flooded Pierre, S.D., ripped through the stockyards at Sioux City, Iowa,
and later blew the lids off sewer manholes in Omaha
- The 'Great Flood' was on its way.
Here is a summarized daily account of the local flood events:
Monday, April 7: The first flood warnings were issued on April 7 from Niobrara to Rulo, Nebraska - a sign of the severity of the impending flood.
Council Bluffs Iowa Mayor James Mulqueen declares levee system in "excellent condition," but realizes vulnerability of homes on three-mile flood plain in West End.
Mulqueen informs Iowa Governor Val Peterson of the city's
situation, in case state troops are needed. Evacuation orders were issued and an emergency human exodus
of people began to flee towns along the river, including all 622 residents of Dakota City, 30,000 in Council Bluffs, 40,000 from Carter Lake and East Omaha, including Rulo,
Nebraska.. South Sioux City town officials ordered the immediate evacuation of all 55 hundred residents. The Missouri's
raging swell crushed dikes protecting South Sioux and Dakota City,
Iowa.
Tuesday, April 8: U.S. Weather Bureau predicts a 26-foot crest,
which would be 18 inches higher than the great flood of 1881.
Wednesday, April 9: The river crest prediction climbs to 28.5 feet.
An Army Corps of Engineer's representative stated, "We haven't seen anything yet. ... It will be a fight to hold the
levees."
The recorded Omaha river stage was 20.4 feet.
Thursday, April 10: City of Council Bluffs calls for 5,000 volunteers to man
the levees. The Red Cross says a levee break would endanger 5,846 families in the Bluffs.
The recorded Omaha river stage was 20.7 feet.
Friday, April 11: Council Bluffs Mayor James Mulqueen declares an emergency,
ordering everyone west of 30th Street to evacuate their homes and
businesses and move to higher ground. Council Bluffs starts to
construct a backup levee system. The recorded Omaha river stage was
21.5 feet.
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Omaha's
1943 floodwall holds
during the Flood of 1952 |
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Saturday, April 12: There were places where the Missouri River now spread out 15 miles wide…and all of that water was heading south to Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa.
All nonessential businesses were ordered closed. Flooding over
the elevated tracks forces the closure of the Illinois Central Railroad line north of Council Bluffs.
The Iowa National Guard received orders and mobilizes to assist
with Council Bluffs police and surveillance duty. Most Levee roads
become unusable due to rain, floodwater and mud. One mile of timber road
is laid at the town's important north levee. Walls of sandbags
were stacked along the business district in Council Bluffs.
Volunteers were lining up as Omaha's disaster plan took shape. Ironically, it was
said a fear of another world war, and a fight with the Russians
(Cold War stress) that had Omaha ready. Omaha's 
Mayor Glenn Cunningham turned to the city's Civil Defense team for leadership in this battle. A plan
was put into action with military organization and precision. In a matter of hours, volunteers began topping levees on both sides of the river with another
three to five feet of sandbags and flash boards. The work crews stretched along nearly
fifteen miles of the Missouri River shoreline. This was Omaha's industrial backbone, and just a couple blocks away was all of downtown. Union Pacific rail crews shored up the
floodwalls along tracks and switchyards on both sides of the river.
The recorded Omaha river stage was 22.6 feet.
Easter Sunday, April 13: The Chicago and North Western Railroad
suspends all train operations and mass evacuations were well underway in
the west and south sides of Council Bluffs, as well as east Omaha. Crews work all night to add two feet of dirt on top of Council Bluffs levees.
The recorded Omaha river stage was 24.24 feet.
Meanwhile upriver, seventy-five homes had been flash- flooded in Niobrara,
Nebraska. The towns of Homer and La Platte were by now virtually abandoned. Yankton South Dakota recorded the river stage of 35.5 ft at a discharge of 480,000 cubic feet/second (cfs). That same day, further down river, all 5,557 residents of South Sioux City were
ordered to evacuate by the mayor as dikes protecting the City had failed days earlier and a third of the City was flooded. Eight feet of water poured across the city, claiming one third of its homes and businesses.
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Click on
this picture to view a SLIDESHOW of SIOUX CITY AREA scenes from the 1952 Flood
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Monday, April 14: The river at Sioux City Iowa now crested at 24.3 feet. Water surrounded the meatpacking plants and filled the stockyards. Downstream, spring planting had been only days away.
The Missouri River crumbled fragile farm levees and spread across hundreds of thousands of acres of crop
land.
The riverside Nebraska town of Blair recorded a record crest of 23.15. The Council Bluffs crest prediction
was revised up to expect at least 31.5 feet.
An Omaha based U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman was overheard lamenting, "The Missouri is coming with a rip and a
roar... We're in a hell of a lot of trouble." The U.S. Army sends in 6,000 troops. Lt. Gen. Lewis Pick, chief of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers arrives in Omaha to access the situation up close. All Council Bluffs schools are declared
officially closed until further notice. The recorded Omaha river
stage was 25.6 feet.
Tuesday: April 15: Council Bluffs evacuated to Seventh Street. Violent sand boils threaten and beat at levees.
Water-soaked and saturated levees were said to "quiver like Jello" under footsteps.
A confident member of the Corps of Engineers was overheard to say,
"...the river's going to know it's in the damnedest fight it's ever had. And we're going to lick it."
Over 100,000 local Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa citizens were
had thus far been forced to evacuate. Council Bluffs residents had evacuated 17 square miles of the city as 14,000 tons of sand and gravel were used along the levees.
The recorded Omaha river stage was 27 feet.
Wednesday, April 16: President Harry Truman stops at Offutt Air Force Base for flood briefing. He personally visited the scene of the flooding in Omaha and
during a live radio broadcast on KOIL radio, officially declared Omaha-Council Bluffs a disaster area. Volunteers
completed a four-foot flashboard fence atop the main Council Bluffs
river levee and begin backing it with dirt and sandbags. The river's discharge at Omaha was then recorded at 396,000 CFS, or, 177,724,800 gallons per minute.
The Omaha flood stage level was set at 29 feet. The recorded Omaha
river stage was 28.3 feet.
Thursday, April 17: The Missouri River crested in Omaha at 30.25 feet…the highest level in
the city's history, and a record never broken thus far.
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Click on
this picture to view a SLIDESHOW of COUNCIL BLUFFS scenes from the 1952 Flood
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The river stage hits 34.24 feet at north levee in Council Bluffs. In Omaha,
approximately 4,000 U.S. troops were now ordered in to assist with
shoring the levees along the riverfront.
A great portion of the
Omaha riverfront area was protected by the existing levee/floodwall system constructed in 1943.
At this time, Omaha's existing wooden floodwall was showing signs of stress from holding back the rising river.
Roadblocks set up on
highways leading to river bridges, restricting traffic to only necessary vehicles. There were an estimated 35,000
local citizen volunteers and troops down on the riverfront filling and throwing sandbags, driving earth moving equipment,
moving supplies and whatever else was needed to support those on
the "front lines". The recorded Omaha river stage was 29.67 feet and cresting.
Friday, April 18: The river's crest would take about eight hours to pass. Meanwhile, emergency Omaha workers scramble to plug a storm drain blowout at 11th and Grace Streets flooding 1,000 industrial acres north of downtown, threatening to flank and undermine levees. The Army Corps of Engineers rushed in
with men and heavy equipment. After a hectic period of time, they
successfully created a temporary steel and rock dam to block the escaping river water.
Saturday, April 19: The cresting high water at Omaha passes by and levees hold. Water began to slowly recede. Twenty
stranded families had to be rescued from flooding water in Bellevue, Nebraska.
In Iowa, Plum Creek levee became saturated and collapsed, just to
the north of Hamburg, causing massive flooding of homes and acreage in lowlands throughout the valley.
At Plattsmouth, Nebraska, river discharge reached a recorded maximum flow of 400,000 CFS. Just to the south on the same side of the
river at Nebraska City, the raging water reached a stage of 27.66 feet (flood stage was 18.0 feet) with a record discharge of 414,000
CFS, exceeding the predicted 500-year historic projected
level. At that time, records show an estimated figure of just over 187,000 acres of land bordering the Missouri River
having been inundated by flood water.
Further downriver in Missouri at the city of St. Joseph, the river Crested at 26.8 feet on April 23. (14 .5 feet above flood stage).
This recorded stage matched the record flood levels of 1882. 10 billion gallons of water was rushing by the city every hour. Eventually,
rising flood waters created a situation where the mayor of St. Joseph requested that all able men were to report
immediately to the now-threatened Rosecrans Memorial Airport area in order to shore up the existing levees and make
them higher.
The river water rose and eventually flooded the Rosecrans Memorial Airport, then on through to the Lake Contrary Amusement
Park. It was estimated that at it's widest point, at cresting, the river stretched 6 miles from St. Joseph to Wathena,
Kansas. Some 2,500 people stood along the town levees, stacking up sandbags in a frantic effort to keep the water out of the oldest part of the town.
Original river channel redirected
When the water receded at St. Joseph, Missouri, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had a plan: Why not take out the wide bend in the river that wrapped around Rosecrans Memorial Airport, and force the river into a new and supposedly less flood-prone channel? Although the new channel would cut St. Joseph off from its own airport, the plan won the city's backing, and on Oct. 4 thousands of folks gathered on blufftops and overlooks to see the spectacle.
Only a wall of dirt separated the old river from its new manmade bed. With one and a half tons of nitroglycerin and dynamite, the Corps blew a hole in the wall and threw dirt and rock 600 feet into the air. The river rushed through the gap and -- during the next six months of rapid erosion, established new banks between Rosecrans Airport and the bluffs along MacArthur Drive. An oxbow lake (Browning Lake) was formed in the old Bellemont Bend and Elwood Bend portions of the river channel. The cut-off channel modified portions of Bon Ton Bend and St. Joseph Bend, and separated the city from the airport. A bridge and highway were later constructed to connect the two. |
Farmers were eventually forced to empty their stock yards or else the cattle would all drown.
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Little Sioux River train bridge engulfed by flood water |
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Cities along the river looked like ghost towns when the evacuation was complete.
Many sewers were ripped open from water pressure and erosion. By this time during the flood, over 187,000 acres of land was inundated. Small water falls were formed over levees destroying many roads. When the flood waters finally had gone back down the "Muddy Mo" left hundreds of thousands of pounds of sand and silt on the land.
An estimated 7,500 Red Cross troops would be sent in to make refugee camps for the 100,000 evacuees living along the Missouri River. Soon the entire area would be announced an official disaster area. Now even more troops were sent in.
Whether the Corps' flood-fighting measure was successful has been debated ever since, and no more so than during the Great Flood of 1993, which came just 31 years after the massive engineering project.
| It lasted from April 12 to June 29, that unmerciful torrent of seemingly unstoppable floodwater bullied it's way through
lowlands and bottom areas from Niobrara to the north, then southward to the "Big Bend", where directly in
it's path lie the old Ox-Bow town of old South Sioux City, at the same time on it's eastern river banks enveloping
Sioux City itself - Draining southward, steamrolling through vulnerable smaller low-lying towns that dot along
the old river channel like targets at a turkey-shoot - Piercing the heart of the Missouri River Valley, which is
bordered by the majestic rolling elevations of the Loess Hills and then, to be constricted and squeezed by the
sculpted river channel that carves through the stalwart, 'big' cities of Omaha and Council Bluffs. The muddy beast
ripped unleashed through levees and dikes, unconscionably destroying farmland and killing livestock. Basic community
support infrastructures such as fresh water systems were polluted and uncontained sewage was spread with the
possibility of infectious disease. Power and communication systems were disrupted and sometimes destroyed. Whole
communities were shut down, ruination of personal property, keepsakes, historical items, irreplaceable objects, family
heirlooms and documents. Lives were forever altered and families became temporarily displaced. Business resources and
capital equipment were ruined. Unparalleled devastation and total destruction was witnessed and recorded along the
invading rogue's path, unmercifully spreading destruction to states and towns in it's inevitable path until meeting
ultimate termination at it's confluence with 'Old Man River'. |
Other floods claimed more lives, but the devastation brought by the swollen Missouri in the Spring of 1952 was staggering. 50 years later no other emergency has matched the Missouri River flood of 1952. It was the largest recorded flood in the history of the Missouri River and still stands as the flood-of-record for the Missouri at Omaha Nebraska.
Although the crest passed Omaha without causing a floodwall breach, other places were not as fortunate. South Sioux City damage estimates alone were $2.5 million, and $11.9 million was the Corps of Engineers' preliminary estimate for the entire flood. It is doubtful, however, that this estimate takes into consideration all aspects of flood damage such as infrastructure, agriculture, business interruption, and other direct losses. 180,000 agricultural acres were inundated, and of the 1,400 houses inundated in the flood, 681 were farmsteads. In urban areas, 2,100 homes were evacuated, totaling 13,000 displaced people (not including Omaha). 1.4 million manhours were worked to fight the flood.
A federal plan for a massive Missouri River flood control system collected dust for eight years before the disaster of
'52. President Harry Truman saw the damage to Nebraska, Iowa and his home state of Missouri...and he got mad. The Garrison Dam and Fort Randall Dams were completed two years later, Gavin's Point in 1956. Oahe, in '62, Big Bend a year later.
1960 to 1990 Floods
Smaller flood events continued on the Missouri after 1952. Evacuations took place in Bellevue and Rulo,
Nebraska on March 30, 1960. On April 1, 1962, 400 families were evacuated from the bottomland areas near Bellevue
due to the flooding Missouri River, which backed-up the Platte
River causing upstream flood surges.
On June 18, 1967, the worst flood since 1952 in Nebraska City (23-foot crest, 18-foot flood stage) flooded the docks and industrial area. On June 15, 1984, 200 families were evacuated from their homes in La Platte and
Bellevue, Nebraska. They could not return to their homes for two weeks. This same flood event
equaled the 100-year flood in Rulo, Nebraska, where many families were forced to evacuate as their homes and cabins were flooded.
On June 18, 1990, fifteen to thirty homes had floodwater 2-4 feet deep at Iske Park and Holubs Place Subdivisions
in Nebraska. (Note: the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District acquired and demolished homes in the Holubs Place and neighboring Elbow Bend,
Nebraska subdivisions after they were severely flooded again in 1993).
Great Flood of 1993
The Great Flood of 1993 on the upper Mississippi River, the Missouri River and scores of other rivers flowing into them cost an estimated $21 billion, covered parts of nine states and lasted three months.
Even with the main stem dam system and channel modifications, the Missouri River again threatened riverside farmland,
highways, homes, businesses and lives. Unusual weather conditions brought wave after wave of storms over the Midwest, dumping record amounts of rain.
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1993 Floodwaters in St. Joseph, Missouri |
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Hardest hit was the State of Iowa which had every county declared a Federal disaster area. All told, nine states along the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers had counties which were declared disaster areas. In Nebraska, 52 counties were declared Federal disaster areas due to flooding and tornadoes from the severe storms.
The month of June 1993 was the sixth wettest on record since 1931 with an average of 5.30 inches of precipitation - normal is 3.73 inches. In July, statewide precipitation set an all-time record with 8.50 inches of rainfall. 20-26 inches of rain fell in the southeastern counties of Pawnee, Nemaha, Otoe, and Richardson, and 10 to 20 inches of rain fell in a band from Harlan County Dam to Omaha.
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