| Before The Flood | ||||
| Much of Kansas experienced drouth conditions in 1950. In the spring of '51, Kansans were literally praying for rain to save the crops. When the rains finally came, the State Board of Agriculture was predicting a bumper crop. The problem was that the rains never stopped. | ||||
| "The Flood of '51" is most often associated with the second week of July in 1951, but there was flooding prior to that week. As early has May, many rivers in eastern Kansas were running bank full, and some were actually overflowing. On May 22, a cloud burst near the town of Yocimento sent a wall of water rushing down Big Creek towards Hays. The flash flood inundated most of the southern portion of town and was responsible for six deaths. Three teenagers who were returning from a dance in Ellis, drowned when their car was swept off the road and into Big Creek. The other three drowned in Hays while trying to retrieve valuables from their homes. | ||||
| Major flooding had occured on the Kansas River prior to 1951. The Memorial Day flood of 1903 swept through north Topeka killing 38 and forcing the evacuation of some 4,000 residents. And in 1844, (ten years before Kansas became a territory), a flood of greater magnitude than the '51 flood ravaged the Kansas River Valley. Eyewitnesses, both whites and Native Americans, reported that water covered the valley "bluff to bluff". | ||||
| In 1844 the Kansas River Valley was largely unsettled. But by 1951 a tremendous amount of development had taken place, setting the stage for one of the worst natural disasters in Kansas history. | ||||