After a couple of years with mild winters, those of us living in the middle part of our country had almost forgotten what a real winter was like. Mother Nature hastened to remind us the middle of this month when she sent us bone-chilling temperatures and several inches of snow.
Another brutal winter was in 1950, which cut a swath of destruction across the country– from tornadoes in the south, a paralyzing blanket of slush in the midwest and snow and ice dumped on the northeast. The tornadoes killed 48 people and injured hundreds.
When two large rain-swollen rivers meet and merge, a flood is sure to happen. The result in 1950 was an inundated Smithland, Kentucky business district with part of the residential area being covered by water, too. Parts of Smithland were flooded from early January through February. [1]
The residents of Smithland knew how to deal with disaster when their options were few.
“From the Pacific Northwest to New England, the northern half of the nation was barraged by almost every weapon in winter’s book – snow, rain, freezing drizzle, high winds and sub-zero temperatures.
“Flood refugees at tiny Smithland, Ky., held a community sing to bolster their spirits. More than 200 people sang “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More” and “River Stay way From My Door” as the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers, which join near the town, climbed steadily higher …
“The Red Cross served coffee, donuts and punch, and county clerk Gabe McCandless reported, “Yes, sir, everybody was kinda cheered up and felt much better when the thing was over.”[2]
[1] “Where
Cumberland Meets Ohio,” Evansville Press, Evansville, Indiana, Thurs.,
16 Feb 1950, page 1, photograph.
[2]
“Tornado – Battered Southern Sections Get Flood Misery; All Northern Half of
U.S. Feels Winter,” Clinton Daily News, Clinton, Oklahoma, Tues.,
24 Feb 1950, p. 1, Newspapers.com accessed 18 Feb 2021.
Published 25 Feb 2021, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http:wkygenealogy.blogstop.com/
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