If you live
along the rivers in western Kentucky, you soon learn to expect flooding. It doesn't
happen every year, but often enough that you pay attention to the river levels
when heavy rains follow the melting of large amounts of snow - a sure formula
for flooding.
That's what
happened in 1950. Heavy rains followed snow in December 1949 and, by
mid-January 1950, the rivers had reached flood stage. The Evansville Courier of 13 January 1950 reported that
several families in Livingston County were forced to evacuate their homes and
the flood waters had begun invading the business district of Smithland. Most of
the businesses of Smithland had closed due to the high water. The Methodist
church was dispensing groceries and supplies to evacuees.
Eddyville
and Kuttawa, in Lyon County, were also flooded.
The Cumberland River at Eddyville reported that water was near the
ceilings of some business houses and one brick building had collapsed from
pressure. Schools in Eddyville and
Kuttawa were closed.
Sturgis,
Union County appeared to be the hardest
hit of western Kentucky communities. The Tradewater River, from which Sturgis
drew its drinking water, had backed up. Backwater from the Tradewater as well
as from the Ohio River and creeks and streams was rising and threatening to
flood much of Sturgis. One hundred families or more in the south and east sides
of Sturgis had been evacuated and were being housed in churches, vacant houses
and buildings at the old airport.
Western
Kentucky wasn't the only area experiencing flooding. The little town of Rosiclare, Illinois, on
the Ohio River, was under water and 80 families had moved to higher ground. In Shawneetown, Gallatin County, Illinois,
flooding extended along a 200 mile expanse and it was feared that there would
be a crack in the giant levee protecting the city.
The Red
Cross estimated 5000 people were made homeless in the flood area of the
Ohio River and its tributaries. While the flood of 1950 didn't cause nearly as much damage as the flood of 1937, it was destructive and proved once again that man often fights a losing battle against Mother Nature.
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