The Flood Problem and Protection

627-i Housing said fte**" ^1?% Off j.ftft ai tM MliMlUfe .'3SZ-3 sir ///7 THE FLOOD PfttJffiLEM ! • IN fire Prevention AND PROTECTION ;•!! I fj£%$FK ~ fTC’p’,' , ., _ jr^te^ • ‘•....; ; i y&^*2r* ’) ?*w- ^ Kansas (KawJ River, Flood of July, 1951. View Looking East Toward Central Industrial District, Kansas City, Missouri. NATIONAL BOARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERS NEW YORK Edition of 1951 Including Reprint of 1939 Report Copies of this brochure may be had on application at the offices of the National Board of Fire Underwriters at 85 John Street, New York 38, N. Y.; 222 West Adams Street, Chicago 6, 111. and 1014 Merchants Exchange Building, San Francisco 4, California. 1 v- ■ I PREFACE ! This report was prepared by a special committee of the Advisory Engineering Council of the Committee on Fire Prevention and Engineering Standards. The Chairman was Eugene F. Gallagher, of the Ohio Inspection Bureau, Colum bus, Ohio. To him is due the credit of collecting the data and preparing the report. Acknowledgement is made of the cooper ation of the various regional organizations of the capital stock fire insurance industry, the U. S. Army Engineers, the U. S. • Weather Bureau, the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company, the officials of the various cities and towns in the path of the floods, and many others who have given valuable aid and counsel. ! I .! :■ :! i FOREWORD Floods have ever presented a problem in connection with fire prevention and fire protection. While it is not the intent here to offer a complete solution to that problem, it is thought that, at least, there may be made available for common benefit the experience gained during the past several years when floods of unprecedented height occurred in various parts of the country. It is not necessary to give any detailed account of past floods in any specific city or town. That information has previously been made available through many media, includ ing the reports of various insurance service organizations, governmental agencies and professional associations. The bibliography may be of assistance to any who would pursue the general subject in some technical detail. It is hoped that in addition to such other use as it may have, this discussion of the flood problem will be of some service to those in the various offices of insurance service organizations who may be called upon to face a flood emerg ency and who may find useful some reference on the subject. TABLE OF CONTENTS REPORT OF 1939 Page Foreword ......................................... 3 I. General. Conclusions ................................. 7 History ....................................... 7 Causes ................................. • • • 10 Frequency ................................. 11 Magnitude ................................... 13 Control ....................................... 13 Forecasting ............................... 16 Miscellaneous Factors .............. 20 II. Meeting the Flood Situation. Responsibility of the Community 22 Designing and Planning---- 22 Zoning .............................. 22 Flammable Liquid Storage 23 Public Utility Services 26 Emergency Codes.............. 31 During the Flood .................. 32 Police Department ............ 32 Fire Department .............. 33 Public Utility Services ... 37 Refugee Centers ................ 44 Responsibility of the Individual 44 Designing and Planning .... 44 Property in General.......... 44 Sprinklered Properties---- 46 During the Flood.................. 48 Property in General.......... 48 Sprinklered Properties .... 49 III. Rehabilitation. Property in General ......................................... 52 Sprinklered Properties................................... 55 Restoration of Public Utility Services........ 56 Water Supply ......................................... 56 Electric Service ..................................... 57 Gas Service ............................................. 58 Electrical Equipment ..................................... 58 Wiring ..................................................... 58 Motors, Generators, etc................... 62 IV. Services of Organizations. Activities of Insurance Service Organizations 64 Activities of Other Organizations.................. 69 V. Bibliography....................................................... 72 APPENDIX A Resume of Recent Great Floods. I’age Floods of New England — 1936 . 74 Upper Ohio Valley Flood —1936 81 Ohio Valley Flood — 1937 .......... 86 APPENDIX B Underwriting Experience. Experience in General.......... 94 Outstanding Individual Losses 97 Sprinkler Leakage Experience 103 APPENDIX C Proposed Cincinnati Emergency Code. 106 f SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT—1951 I General ........................................ 118 Forecasting .................................. 121 Flammable Liquid Storage.......... 121 Resume of Recent Notable Floods 123 Miscellaneous Flood Situations .. 138 ' i i B i I. GENERAL Conclusions: In the following pages will be found a general discussion of floods including something of their history, their frequency and magnitude, their control, and other phases pertinent to the entire subject. From this discussion and from considera tion of various technical reports issued by interested branches of the United States Government and by certain technical associations, the following conclusions may be drawn: 1. Floods are not increasing in size and frequency. This conclusion may seem entirely erroneous in view of the fact that all flood records were broken in 1936 and 1937. But these events must be looked upon as “freaks” in the orderly compilation of data and records. Excluding them for the sake of comparison with pre vious periods indicates that no appreciable change is taking place in either the frequency or size of floods. 2. Floods are increasing in importance. Thus far in the development of river basins, conditions have been such that there is an ever increasing potential damage due to floods. A flood which, 20 years ago, was an inconvenience is, today, in some localities, a disaster. This is the result of the increasing occupation of river banks and river valleys by towns and cities, industrial plants, bridges, railroads and highways. 3. It is reasonable to believe that greater floods will be experienced. Practically all students of the subject, as well as the experts who have prepared various reports issued under government supervision, agree that, in so far as available records indicate, the maximum floods have not occurred. Much more ad verse synchronization of circumstances than has been experienced is quite plausible. 4. Flood forecasting should be decidedly improved. This will result from increased activity and the acqui sition of new and modern equipment by the Weather Bureau. History: The story of floods, were it to be in any sense complete, would begin with the earliest days of man’s history and would continue, an unfinished saga, until the last chapter in the world’s existence had been written. There would be much in the story that would be fascinating. In fact, the few chap- 7 I ters which have been enacted thus far hold much of interest, depicting, as they do, man’s courage and persistent determi nation to rise above the recurring tragedy of death, and disease, and desolation. There are no authentic or systematic records of discharge on any river in any country extending back beyond 50 or 60 years. There are available, however, records of outstanding river heights on several rivers in Europe and Asia extending back many centuries. This is true of several French rivers where the records go back into the sixth and seventh cen turies. Records of even greater length have been kept in Mesopotamia, India and China. By far the oldest record obtainable is found in the neighborhood of the second Nile cataract in upper Egypt. Here, some of the inscriptions date back to 1800 B.C., indicating that river heights and floods were ever a significant factor in man’s progress. The longest continuous record of river gages is found at the Roda gage on the Nile at Cairo. This record covers 13 centuries. One fact of particular interest, which seems to be established by a study of these records, is that in magnitude, frequency, and irregularity of occurrence, floods have shown no changed characteristics down through the years. With reference to stream flow in this country there are, i of course, no records of appreciable antiquity. It is true that on one gage (at Hartford, Conn.) records have been kept of river heights for about 300 years, and at some other points for some 200 years, but these can hardly be translated into discharge with any degree of satisfaction. However, gage heights, alone, form an interesting comparison of river be havior of yesterday and today. In considering the record of floods it should be remem bered that their destructiveness is not confined to large rivers alone. There are few rivers or streams that are not, at times, flowing beyond their channel capacities. Even small streams, subject to very sudden rise, may be productive of great damage, but this is usually concentrated within a rela tively small area. These smaller streams, which are apt to rise so rapidly, may often claim more lives than do the more extensive floods which rise more slowly on the larger rivers. Naturally the total amount of potential destruction is depend ent upon the size of the river and its drainage area and upon the value of the property subject to inundation by its overflow. The Mississippi River: The Mississippi, with its tribu taries, constitutes the most

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