| Accession# |
VE4-2010 |
| Catalog date |
02/12/2010 |
| Collection |
OSHP Collections |
| Date of photo |
1939 |
| Description |
The Flood Control Act of 1936 was signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on June 22, 1936. It authorized civil engineering projects such as dams, levees, dikes, and other flood control measures through the United States Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies.
This act, which declared that flood control was a national priority since floods constituted a menace to the national welfare, dictated that improvements of waterways for flood control would be under the jurisdiction of the War Department, and put watersheds, waterflow retardation, and soil erosion prevention under the Department of Agriculture.
According to Joseph Arnold, author of "The Evolution of the Flood Control Act of 1936," "The Flood Control Act of 1936 established an enormous commitment by the federal government to protect people and property on approximately 100 million acres. Since 1936, Congress has authorized the Corps of Engineers to construct hundreds of miles of levees, flood walls, and channel improvements and approximately 375 major reservoirs. These remarkable engineering projects today comprise one of the largest single additions to the nation’s physical plant -rivaled only by the highway system. They have saved billions of dollars in property damage and protected hundreds of thousands of people from anxiety, injury, and death. They stand today as one of the more significant marks of our technical skill and human spirit."
According to the "Monthly Weather Review - Rivers and Floods" by Thomas Southwick (March 1939), the total damage reported from floods during February and March amounted to $1,462,535. The breaking up of ice and melting of the snow cover contributed to the floods of this period in the Northern States.
The newspaper accounts shown here are dated March 19, 1939, and show two river areas - southern and northwest Ohio - and the effects of flooding throughout the state in 1939.
|
| Year Range from |
1939 |
| Category |
8: Communication Artifact |
| Year range to |
1939 |
| Object ID |
VE4-2010-003 |
| Object Name |
Print, Photographic |
|
