Cincinnati Flood of 1997
Within two days between March 1 and 3, 1997, a killer storm developedfrom the Gulf of Mexico from Mississippi all the way to West Virginia andcarrying with it a deluge of rain as the worst flood in 33 years (Mazzola1997). Right on day 1, it was an unusually moist type of weather with aterrifying potential for torrential downpours. It turned violent, bringingthunderstorms and tornadoes across a 250-mile spread of destruction. Infive hours, Arkansas experienced 14 tornadoes, which killed at least 24. Itlashed nearby states, killing one person a day in Mississippi and Tennesseeand its high winds, claiming two lives in Texas. Rains continued on day 2 through Kentucky and Southern Ohio, asswollen streams and creeks poured into the Ohio River (Mazzola). Theirlevels rose to a foot a day until day 3. Licking River rose to 52 feet, or12 feet above flood stage. All through day and night 3, 12" rainfallcrashed through 40,000 homes and businesses in Louisville. Leaving theplace desolate, it drove east to Clermont, Brevin, Adams, Scioto, Lawrenceand Gallia counties, before heading for West Virginia, where it eased abit. By then, 16 West Virginia counties had been declared to be in a
The National Weather Service (1997) reported that most of the town ofFalmouth in Pendleton County, Kentucky's more than 2,400 residentsabandoned it. The shale slakes and hydrostatic pressure builds up. The Miami town Shale is similarly prone to develop landlines. Floods had gone in and out of the Ohio Valley, but past floods couldnot compare with the wrath of March 1997. More than 20,000 homes and businesses applied for emergency relief. National guardsmen put up 900-foot-longdikes, using 60,000 sandbags. They coordinated with ABC, CBS,and NBC TV, World News, Associated Press, The Washington Post, USA Today,to name some. If the coldfront had moved faster, it would have drawn the thunderstorms more quicklytowards the east and much less rainfall amounts would have resulted(Jackson and Vivian 1997). Almost 14,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. These Ordovician rocks in the subsurface inNorthwestern Ohio also became the source of the first giant oil and gasfield in the country. A broken levee drained waters that earlier inthe week flooded the town where 386 people lived when another levee burst. Heavy rains ensued from the storm because of the dramatic slowingdown of the frontal system and the continuous ingress of strong andpersistent southerly winds andwarm air into northern Kentucky and southern Ohio, which sustained thethunderstorms. Local NWSlikewise handled big volumes of queries from the media, both on thenational and local levels, about the flood. Although most of its personnel had littleor no previous experience in dealing with a phenomenal calamity as theMarch 1997 flood, many of them were assessed to have performed well byplacing timely and effective warnings in their areas. Accordingto interviews, forecast and warning information was moved to state andlocal emergency management that allowed life-saving evacuations in manycases and property-saving performance in many other cases.
Common topics in this essay:
STORMS IFLOWS,
Louisville Charleston,
Ohio River,
West Virginia,
Ohio Valley,
Louisville Kentucky,
Gas Trend,
Cincinnati Miami's,
Center HPC,
Mazzola Formation,
west virginia,
ohio river,
ohio valley,
day 1,
nws offices,
march 1997,
oil gas,
cold front,
homes businesses,
local nws,
counties declared emergency,
local nws offices,
kentucky southern ohio,
serious flooding ohio,
feet flood stage,
|
Acceptance Essays
