Local History Department

THE 1913 FLOOD IN PIQUA

     On Tuesday, March 25, 1913 the Great Miami River broke free of its banks and swept through Piqua, Rossville and Shawnee.  Unlike floods that had struck Piqua before, this one took its toll in human lives as well as property.  Within three days, fourteen men, women, and children had been taken to the temporary morgue established in the print shop of W.F. Steiner at 424 North Main Street.  Dozens more were simply listed as missing or locations unknown.  At the end of the month, thirty-eight fatalities had been recorded, with another four names still unaccounted for.

  People in need of food, shelter, or clothing were to apply at the Y.M.C.A.  An estimated 600 people were housed and cared for during the flood and many more were fed at the Y.M.C.A.

   Businesses in Piqua lost an estimated $153,000 in flood damage and over 200 homes were destroyed.

   Our library lost more than half of our books.  In 1913 this damage was estimated at a worth of $12,000 - $15,000.  In today’s dollars that would be around $250,000.

   To protect against any menace of flood in the future, towns and cities in the Miami Valley united to form a plan of flood control.  23,000 subscribers from the area contributed a sum of $2,150,000 in ten days time to finance this investigation.  The Morgan Engineering Company of Memphis, Tenn. was chosen to head up the Miami Conservancy project covering 9 counties and 169,600 acres of land.  The new project would protect the valley from a flood 40% worse than the flood of 1913.