Flood recalls 1913 disaster

[ben_meyers]

Of course you have to wonder what was going on in 1865 and 1913 to cause such devastating weather.

The recent flood was strikingly similar in the amount of damage caused by the flood of March 1913, but the similarity stops there.

In 1913, more than 12 hours of heavy rains caused the entire town of Paragon to flood, along with the south and east sides of Martinsville, simply because the rain could not drain away fast enough. No one is old enough to remember that flood, when the White River and tributaries overflowed their banks, inundating both Paragon and the north end of the city closest to the river. Nearly three feet of water covered the streets surrounding the Morgan County Courthouse, a flood that residents reckoned was greater than the flood of 1876.

Here are excerpts from the Martinsville Reporter-Times — then called the Martinsville Republican — about that disaster in 1913:

Worst flood since 1875 is on, with water causing great damage to farm property, business and residences in this city

Hundreds of flooded houses in Martinsville
People in low districts could not believe such a flood was impending and did not realize they were in danger until water entered their homes Monday night — rescued by vehicles and boats

Martinsville Republican (1913)

White River bids fair to equal its old record of 1876, just now, in the opinion of many of the older residents who saw that great flood when the waters were the highest here that they had ever been known. Many did not get out of their homes in time in wagons and buggies or other vehicles and had to be taken out in boats. The floods came as a great surprise. The hard rains that fell at intervals for the past forty-eight hours were expected to bring the river out of its banks, but such a volume of water as actually poured down White River astonished nearly every one.

Reports were sent from Indianapolis early last evening to the effect that White River was rising at the rate of four feet an hour, and this caused many warnings to be sent out during the night and the people to begin to watch the river with much anxiety, especially people living near the river or in the lowlands.

http://www.reporter-times.com/stories/2008/06/15/news.nw-501608.sto