Notable Local Floods of 1942-43 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1134 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1952 CONTENTS The letters in parenthesis preceding the titles are those used to designate the separate chapters] Page (A) Flood of August 4-5, 1943, in central West Virginia, by H. M. Erskine. 1 (B) Floods of July 18, 1942, in north-central Pennsylvania, by William S. Eisenlohr, Jr________________________________________________ 59 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE 1. Map of West Virginia showing location of points where flood determinations were made__________--_-_--__-_-_-_--__-_ 48 2. Map of flood area showing locations of stream-gaging stations, rainfall-measurement points, and isohyetal lines for July 17-18, 1942-____-___________________-___-______--_-_-____- In pocket FIGURE 1. Map of West Virginia showing location of Little Kanawha River basin_________________________-__-__--_-_---_-_ 2 2. Residence of Yeager family, which was flooded. ____________ 5 3. Residence, near Heaters, which was washed dowiistream_____ 6 4. Washed-out railroad bridge on Copen Run _________________ 6 5. Washed-out fill on State Route 5 at Jobs Run______________ 7 6. Rock and mud deposit from a hillside wash________________ 7 7. Typical sand and gravel deposits__________________________ 8 8. Typical hillside erosion_____________________-_____-__--__ 8 9. Cornfield destroyed by flood. _--_____________-__-__-_-__- 9 10. Isohyetal map of Little Kanawha River basin showing total rainfall July 26-30, 1943__________________--_-____--- 10 11. Isohyetal map of Little Kanawha River basin showing total rainfall August 4-5, 1943__ ______________-___-_--__--__ 13 12. Discharge hydrographs at stream-gaging stations on Little Kanawha River July 26 to August 9, 1943_ ______________ 18 13. Discharge hydrographs at stream-gaging stations on tribu­ taries of Little Kanawha River July 26 to August 9, 1943__ 19 14. Map of Little Kanawha River basin showing location of points where determinations of flood discharge were made_______ 30 15. Relation of unit discharge in Little Kanawha River basin to size of drainage basin-__-_----__-_-_-_--_-_--------- 31 16. Flood profiles of Little Kanawha River____________________ 34 17. Business section of Burnsville during flood of April 16, 1939-_ 37 18. Part of flooded section of Glenville during flood of April 1939__ 37 19. Isohyetal map of Little Kanawha River basin showing total rainfall April 14-18, 1939__-_-_-_--________________ 38 20. Hourly precipitation at recording rain gages April 14-18, 1939________________________________________________ 39 CONTENTS Page FIGURE 21. Graph of daily mean discharge of Little Kanawha River at Grantsville, March 26 to April 25, 1939-______________ 40 22. Stages reached by floods exceeding 23 feet at Glenville, 1901-43^ __ __________________-_-____-____-___ 42 23. Monthly distribution of floods exceeding 23 feet at Glenville, 1901-43-______________-____-_--------____-_-_-_-_-__ 45 24. Recurrence interval of floods on Little Kanawha River at Glenville, 1901-43-_______________________-__. 45 25. Relation of unit discharges in table 9 to size of drainage basin______________________________________________ 48 26. Index map showing location of flood area __________________ 60 27. Dam of Williamsoii Pulp & Paper Co., Austin, Pa., breached by flood. _____________________________________________ 61 28. Buildings in Austin, destroyed by flood____________________ 62 29. Houses in Johnsonburg, Pa., swept off their foundations and pushed together.___________________----_______-_---__ 63 30. Bridge of Coudersport & Port Allegaiiy R. R. damaged by flood.______.__-____---__-_____-----_-_-_____ 63 31. Baltimore and Ohio R. R. tracks along First Fork Sinnema- honing Creek torn up by flood ________________________ 64 32. Questionnaire used for recording miscellaneous rainfall infor­ mation ______________________________________________ 73 33. Upstream end of debris cone on Taylor Farm, formed during flood.-__---___-______-_---_-____--_____________ 76 34. Blow-out hole near Port Allegany_________________-_-_____ 77 35. Distribution of rainfall at recording-gage stations___________ 82 36. Relation between percent of total rainfall and minimum time required for its occurrence------------------------- 87 37. Glass jar, on Appolt farm, that overflowed after catching 30.8 inches of rain_ -___-____________---_______-_----__ 115 38. Old and new drainage channels on Appolt farm near Port Allegany___________________________________________ 118 39. Upper critical-depth section on Taylor farm________________ 119 40. Slope-area reach on Nelson Run__________________________ 120 41. Bridge opening on Allegheny River at Port Allegany used for contra cted-opening measurement _______________________ 121 42. Comparative hydrographs of flood flows in Susquehanna and Allegheny Rivers drainage basins. ______________________ 122 43. Flood discharge, in second-feet per square mile, in relation to drainage area______________________________________ 144 o Floods of July 18,1942 in North-Central Pennsylvania By W. S. EISENLOHR, JR. Notable Local Floods of 1942-43 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1134-B Prepared in cooperation with the States of New York and Pennsylvania With a section on Descriptive Details of the Storm and Floods By J. E. STEWART JNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1952 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price 75 cents (paper cover) PREFACE The floods of July 18, 1942, in north-central Pennsylvania were extraordinary. The enormous volume of rain that fell during the storm and produced these floods seems almost unbelievable. For that reason considerable space has been devoted to descriptions of previous historic storms and floods of the same type. The similarity of the eye-witness accounts is striking. It is hoped that this documen­ tation will contribute to a more reliable knowledge of these extraordinarily great floods. The field work and collection and tabulation of the basic information on stages and discharges for the flood was done in the Harrisburg, Pa., and Albany, N. Y., districts of the Surface Water Branch under the direction of J. W. Mangan and A. W. Harrington, district engineers, respectively. Hollister Johnson, hydraulic engineer, at that time assigned to the Albany district, had immediate supervision of the miscellaneous measurements of peak discharge made in that district, and reviewed most of those made in Pennsylvania. He also obtained the information about previous floods at Salamanca, N. Y. W. S. Eisenlohr, Jr., assisted in some of the measurements of flood flow and prepared the report in the Technical Co­ ordination Branch under the general direction of R. W. Davenport, chief; he also supplied photographs for the report. Substantial and important contributions to the collection of field information and to the report were made, as noted, by James E. Stewart, hydraulic engineer, now with the West Perm Power Co., who as a young engineer with the Geological Survey was greatly interested in floods. The great number of miscellaneous rain­ fall measurements are largely the result of his efforts, and his contributions to this report are gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due the West Penn Power Co. for making available the results of Mr. Stewart's work. The Corps of Engineers and the Weather Bureau cooperated in the collection of meteorologic information and made it available for these reports; the Corps of Engineers also furnished the results of four peak-discharge measurements. The stream-gaging work in the two districts of the Geological Survey was per­ formed in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters and the New York State Department of Public Works. CONTENTS Abstract- ___________________________________________________________ 59 Introduction- _____________________________________________________ 59 Descriptive details of the storm and floods, by James E. Stewart_________ 66 Description of the storm________-______________________________- 66 Previous extraordinary storms___________________________________ 68 Storm of July 26, 1819________________________.____________ 68 Storm of August 5, 1843__________________________________ 69 Storm of July 5, 1939______________________________________ 70. Collection of rainfall records____________________________________ 71 Flood waves__________________________________________________ 74 Debris movements, blow-outs, and slides _________________________ 75 Meteorology of the storm___________________________________________ 78 Description.__________________________________________________ 78 Rainfall records__________________________ _____________________ 81 The isohyetal map_____-_-_____________________________________ 114 Area-depth relations ___________________________________________ 116 Flood flows-______________________________________________________ 117 Stages and discharges at stream-gaging stations _______________________ 123 Susquehanna River drainage basin_______-_-__________-_--______- 124 Canacadea Creek near Hornell, N. ¥_________________________ 124 Karr Valley Creek at Almond, N. ¥_________________________ 125 West Branch Susquehanna River at Karthaus, Pa----_-------- 126 West Branch Susquehanna River at Renovo, Pa_------------- 127 Sinnemahoning Creek at Sinnemahoning, Pa__________________ 128 Driftwood