1939 – July 4-5, Flash Flooding, esp. Breathitt/52, Rowan/25, Lewis counties, NE KY– 79

–79 Latek. “79th anniversary of flood that took lives of 79 in eastern [KY].” Kentucky Today, 7-5-2018.
–79 NWS Jackson, KY Weather Forecast Office. The Flash Flood of July 1939.
–78 Ludlum. The American Weather Book. 1982, 81.
–78 Sav. Natural Disasters: Some Empirical and Economic Considerations. 1974, p. 22
–75 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 181.

Narrative Information

NWS Jackson KY WFO: “Catastrophic flash flooding occurred across eastern Kentucky during the overnight hours of July 4 to July 5, 1939 as 2.5 to 9 inches of rain fell in a short period of time. The Red Cross reported that flooding affected 21 counties in eastern Kentucky, with 79 people losing their lives (52 in Breathitt County, 25 in Rowan County and 2 in Lewis County). The most disastrous flash flooding occurred in Breathitt and Rowan counties. It was reported that in some places a wall of water up to 22 feet swept through the narrow valleys, with the majority of the rise coming in as little as 15 minutes. In the Lexington Leader, Kentucky Gov. A.B. Chandler described the flooding as probably the “worst calamity of its kind to ever visit Kentucky.”

“Up to 9 inches of rain was believed to have fallen in northern Breathitt County, with the worst flash flooding occurring along Frozen Creek. The official Red Cross report indicated 52 lives were lost in Breathitt County. The Vancleve area felt the full force of the flood with the Kentucky Mountain Bible Institute (now the Kentucky Mountain Bible College) being completely destroyed. In addition 44 houses and 60 barns were swept away by the raging flood waters.

“In Morehead in Rowan County, it was reported that the water rose 10 to 15 feet in less than 30 minutes, and Triplett Creek crested at a record 21.34 feet. The official Red Cross report indicated 25 lives were lost in Rowan County. Water on Railroad Street in Morehead varied from 4 to 10 feet in depth at the height of the flood and it was reported 200 structures were damaged or destroyed in Morehead.” (National Weather Service, Jackson, KY Weather Forecast Office. The Flash Flood of July 1939.)

Schrader (U.S. Geological Survey): “In a period of a few hours during the night of July 4-5, 1939, there occurred in eastern Kentucky an exceptionally severe storm attended by precipitation reaching cloudburst proportions. The storm was somewhat limited in areal extent and principally affected the counties of Lewis, Fleming, Carter, Rowan, Elliott, Menifee, Morgan, Wolfe, Magoffin, and Breathitt in the upper reaches of the Kentucky, Licking, and Little Sandy River Basins and Tygarts Creek Basin. The resultant runoff from the storm produced flood stages and discharges on the small streams of this region exceeding any previously witnessed, and the computed unit discharges for headwater and small tributary streams were higher than any heretofore obtained in Kentucky. Although the, runoff was intense at many locations, it was apparently greatest in the Triplett and Frozen Creek areas in Rowan and Breathitt Counties.

“Descriptions of the rainfall, including such phrases as “continuous sheets of water” and “creating a complete lack of visibility,” indicate that the intensity was exceptionally high for short periods and that in some localities this intense rate of rainfall was maintained for a period of almost an hour….” (p. 42.)

Sources

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Geological Survey (Floyd F. Schrader). Notable Local Floods of 1939, Part 2. Flood of July 5, 1939 in Eastern Kentucky (Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 967-B). Washington, DC: Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior. 1945. Accessed 4-27-2020 at: https://www.weather.gov/media/jkl/1939FloodPaper.pdf

Latek, Tom. “79th anniversary of flood that took lives of 79 in eastern Kentucky.” Kentucky Today, 7-5-2018. Accessed 4-27-2020 at: https://kentuckytoday.com/stories/79th-anniversary-of-flood-that-took-lives-of-79,14068

Ludlum, David M. The American Weather Book. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1982.

National Weather Service, Jackson, KY Weather Forecast Office. The Flash Flood of July 1939. Accessed 4-27-2020 at: https://www.weather.gov/jkl/frozenflood1939

Sav, Thomas G. Natural Disasters: Some Empirical and Economic Considerations (Final Report, NBSIR 74-473). Washington, DC: National Bureau of Standards, Institute for Applied Technology, Center for Building Technology, Building Economics Section, February 1974, 74 pages. Accessed 7-12-2017 at: http://www.fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build74/PDF/b74006.pdf