Floods & Flood Frequency
Schultz House
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
1889
Modern Marvels: The Buffalo Creek Disaster • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMcKyLcQWvQ
Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man Appalshop Video Clips
The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man chronicles the 1972 disaster which killed 125 people and left 4,000 homeless when a coal-waste dam collapsed at the head of a hollow in Logan County, WV.
• Buffalo Creek Flood Part 2 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn9Fd3TieCs&feature=related • Buffalo Creek Flood Part 3 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgdFcLvQfe4&feature=related
1 Flood Terms • Flood = Flow Rises Above Stream Banks & on to Floodplain (Nearly Level Surface next to Channel) • Stage = Height of Water (Above Arbitrary Datum) • Discharge = Volume/Time (cfs, cms) • Recurrence Interval –Average Time Between Events of a Given Size or larger
Flood Frequency • Recurrence Interval: Like Rolling Dice • 100 year flood - BAD TERM • 1 percent flood - Better
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Flood n o tii Frequency lla o rp te IIn
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2 Study this on Pages 248-249, Box 10.2, 10th Edition
Big Floods Change Flood Recurrence Calcualtions. Many WV Flood Insurance Risk Maps (FIRM) Predate Big Floods of Last 20 years
Harpers Ferry, 1870, ~ 60 Deaths One of Many Communities with Long History of Floods
Harpers Ferry, 1889
3 Harpers Ferry,1936
Harpers Ferry, Sept. 1996
The Floodplain is Part of the River
We should not be surprised when, sooner or later, the river exerts authority over its entire domain!
4 How much did water rise in <10 hours?
Guyandotte River Hydrograph
Thayer, WV, NPS Photo
Mullens, July 2001, J. Carr Photo
5 Itmann Bridge, July 2001
Mullens High Water Marks
Mullens Furniture Store, J. Carr Photo
6 The November 1985 Flood: Why Students Should Bring Raincoats on Kite’s Field Trips
November 2, 1985
Lewis Creek, 3 Nov 1985
November 1985 Flood in Cheat, Potomac, Shenandoah & Greenbrier River Basins
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a c a e h h m o a C t o o d P n a n e h S r e ri b n e re G
7 Ice’s Ferry Bridge 11 a.m. 5 Nov 1985
Pt. Marion, 5 Nov 1985 (Before the Police Tried to Bust the Geomorphologists)
Pt. Marion, PA, 5 November 1985
8 Corps of Engineers Burning Flood Debris from Lake Lynn (= Cheat Lake). White Rectangles: Refridgerators, etc.
Normal Flow on Cheat River, Jenkinsburg
5 Nov 1985: 175,000 ft3/s
9 Pyramid Rock Moved, Cheat Canyon
Welcome to Albright
Albright, WV, Aerial View
Scour
10 Albright, WV, 7 Nov 1985
Albright Church
Trailer Frame on Albright Power Plant Bridge
11 Cheat Narrows: Squirrel Rock Did Not Move
Mattress in Tree Near Squirrel Rock
Asphalt Slabs, St. George
12 Household Debris in St. George Ditch
House Damage, Parsons
Welcome to My Living Room, Parsons
13 CondemnedCondemned House, ParsonsHouse
Nursery Bottom, Parsons
Scour on Black Fork of Cheat
14 Ramp and Gravel Splay, Black Fork
Scour of Floodplain Near Petersburg, WV
Photo by Ron Estep, NRCS
Double Helix: South Branch RR
Photo by Doug Lofon
15 Large Scour Near Petersburg
Photo by Bill Gillespie, Nov. 1985
Bent Steel I-Beam, Petersburg
Photo by Doug Lofon
Riverton EMS Building
16 Germany Valley, 1985 Flood Damage
North Fork South Branch Potomac River, Hopeville: Before
North Fork South Branch Potomac River, Hopeville Anticline
17 North Fork South Branch Potomac River, Hopeville: After
North Fork South Branch Potomac River, Hopeville: After
North Fork South Branch Potomac River, Hopeville: After
18 North Fork South Branch Potomac River, Hopeville
Rt. 28/55, Near Champe Rocks: Before
Rt. 28/55, Near Champe Rocks: After
19 Rt. 28/55, Near Champe Rocks: After
Rt. 28/55, Near Champe Rocks: Before
Paleo-Channels
Lewis Creek, 10 Nov 1985
20 Macomber: Spring 1986 Next Flood Tragedy in the Making
Tygart Valley River, Grafton, Bridge Destroyed 10 July 1888
Anybody know story behind this “bridge?
The Floodplain is Part of the River
We should not be surprised when, sooner or later, the river exerts authority over its entire domain!
21 Flood Problems are People Problems
Ignorance of Rivers and Streams
Poor (Selective?) Memory of Historic Floods
Arrogance of Our Ability to Overcome Nature
Greed to Exploit Floodplain Property
Lack of Zoning and Planning
Sooner or later, the river exerts authority over its entire domain!
Ch. 11 After Test 2 Ground Water or Ground-water or Groundwater
Hydrology: Study of Water (Implies Surface Water)
Hydrogeology = Ground-Water Hydrology
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