![]() This act sanctioned pilot projects in 11 watersheds in the United States, including the Washita River Watershed. The funding and technical help for this dam were authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944. The dam was constructed by local watershed project sponsors with assistance from the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS), now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service. In fact, the first flood control dam in the nation, Cloud Creek Dam Number 1, was built in 1948 along a tributary to the Washita River near Cordell. As a result, the state of Oklahoma leads the nation in the number of small watershed upstream flood control dams constructed with just over 2,100 dams comprising a $2 billion infrastructure. and 52,000 cfs on ).Ī series of damaging and deadly floods throughout the United States, including this one, lead to flood control and flood prevention programs being enacted by Congress the 1940s and 1950s. on ) and the second highest flood on record for the Washita River near Cheyenne (19.20 ft. The April 1934 flood event is the flood of record for the Washita River near Clinton (33.90 ft. ![]() Local newspapers also reported that approximately 100 people were left homeless along the Washita River near Hammon. Damages in 1934 dollars were estimated at $3 million, and included agricultural, railroad, and highway damages. Newspapermen who flew from near Cheyenne to Clinton reported the entire valley was inundated with fences rolled up, trees uprooted and the river cutting through fertile farmlands with a strong current.” One pilot who had flown over the floodwaters reported seeing 8 houses floating down the Washita River.Īpproximately 52,000 acres of land were inundated, many of which were left unfit for use. The Elk City Daily News reported that the “view from the air was one of great desolation. High water left many people stranded on rooftops or clinging to trees, where some waited for rescuers for more than 20 hours. The USGS reported that river stages “exceeded anything previously recorded on the Washita from Cheyenne to Fort Cobb, a distance of approximately 150 miles.” Along with homes, the flood washed away miles of railroad track and thousands of livestock. ![]() One family lost seven members in the flood, and the bodies of two people were never recovered. Many people were washed away with their homes 17 people were killed. A rapidly flowing wave of water, reportedly 2 miles wide at the height of the flood, moved down the river toward the east, and overwhelmed multiple homes just north of Hammon, in Roger Mills County. As water from these creeks fed into the Washita River, the volume multiplied. Some of these tributaries such as Croten, Broken Leg, Sergeant Major, Nine Mile, West Quartermaster, and East Quartermaster Creeks experienced intense flash floods. Creeks and small tributaries that comprise the basin carried a tremendous volume of water rapidly north or south toward the main channel of the Washita River. Unfortunately, the intense precipitation associated with the Hammon Flood fell quickly over approximately 750 square miles, almost entirely within the Washita River drainage basin. Some unofficial reports were as high as 20 inches, and one unofficial report told of 15 inches of rain falling in 2 hours and 20 minutes! The bucket survey was a special analysis of a local or regional rain storm where measurements from all available sources were used to help map the rainfall pattern from an intense storm. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted an extensive “bucket survey” of the area, and obtained over 200 rainfall estimates. Weather Bureau cooperative observer measured 14 inches, estimated to have come entirely between 6 pm and midnight.įollowing the storm, the U.S. The most extreme rain was centered over Cheyenne, OK, where the U.S. This band of heavy rain covered the eastern two thirds of Roger Mills, northwestern Custer, southeastern Ellis, and southwestern Dewey Counties. The heavy rainfall totals of 6 to 14 inches occurred over a concentrated area in west central Oklahoma during the evening of April 3 and early morning of the 4th. Heavy rain fell in a short time over parts of west central Oklahoma, producing flash flooding and river flooding along the Washita River that killed 17 people near the town of Hammon, OK. The Hammon Flood of April 3-4, 1934, was an historic meteorological and hydrological event that ironically occurred during a long term drought in Oklahoma in the 1930s, also known as the Dust Bowl era.
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