May 18, 1877
Unprecedented high waters in the lower Arkansas River during May 1877 carried away or disabled all the bridges in Cowley County including the 6th Avenue bridge in Arkansas City (Root, 1936). The Arkansas River at Wichita (station 07144300, fig. 1) reached a stage of 21 feet; flood stage is 12 feet (river gage site and datum from reports of the U.S. Weather Bureau) (Putnam and Schneider, 2003, p. 396).
July 8, 1904
The Arkansas River at Wichita (station 07144300, fig. 1) reached a stage of 20.3 feet (river gage site and datum from reports of the U.S. Weather Bureau) (Putnam and Schneider, 2003, p. 396). Despite a slightly lower gage height than the 1877 flood, flooding was more widespread in Wichita because of backwater and overflow of the Little Arkansas River and Chisholm Creek as they entered the narrow channel of the Arkansas River in Wichita. Also, the six pile bridges crossing the Arkansas River at the time collected drift that retarded the flood causing overflow. Approximately 30 percent of Wichita was submerged on July 8 resulting in $30,000 in damages (almost $600,000 in 2005 dollars) (Murphy and others, 1905, p. 110-112).
1908
Historic information indicates that the October 1908 flood was the largest along the main stem of the upper Arkansas River in Kansas since the turn of the century. The flood resulted from excessive rains between Holly and Las Animas, Colorado, and northward over the Big Sandy Creek drainage basin in southwestern Colorado . Maximum flows were estimated at 97,000 cubic feet per second near Coolidge and 87,000 cubic feet per second at Syracuse (table 1) (Kansas Water Resources Board, 1962).
June 8-9, 1923
In June 1923, the entire drainage area between Hutchinson and Arkansas City received excessive rains. On June 8 and 9, Wichita reported 7.06 inches, Newton 5.75 inches, and Arkansas City 2.06 inches. Excessive precipitation fell over all of the Little Arkansas, Ninnescah, and Chikaskia River Basins as well as the Arkansas River Valley, and major flooding occurred on all of the affected streams. Wichita and Arkansas City were severely damaged. In Wichita, 6 square miles were inundated. At Arkansas City, two lives were lost, and property damage was estimated in the millions (Kansas Water Resources Board, 1960). Flood stages on the Ninnescah were the highest known (table 1).
April 21-23, 1944
The year 1944 was one of generally above-normal precipitation in the lower Arkansas River Basin. The most severe flood of that year occurred at Wichita and downstream to Arkansas City as a result of rains on April 21 to 23. On April 22, Wichita received 6.03 inches of rain, Newton 2.47 inches, Hutchinson, 3.05 inches, and Wellinton 3.38 inches. The merging of the flows from the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers in Wichita resulted in the flooding of about 200 homes and businesses in the city. The damages were estimated at nearly $5 million. Flood stages at Arkansas CIty approached those of the 1923 flood (Kansas Water Resources Board, 1960).
May-July 1951
The highest stages along the Arkansas River during 1951 occurred near Coolidge and at Garden City as the result of an intense storm on May 15, 1951 (table 1). In the Wichita area, Big Slough and Little Slough experienced flooding in July 1951 (Ellis and others, 1963). Flood-damage estimates compiled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the May-July 1951 flooding total $2,868,000 along the main stem of the Arkansas River (U.S. Geological Survey, 1952, p. 40).
May 16�, 1957
Frequent precipitation after April 30 and high soil moisture content set the stage for flooding on May 16�, 1957, in the Arkansas River Basin in south-central Kansas. The State Highway Commission (now the Kansas Department of Transportation) reported 45 road closures in the area, and extensive crop damage was left behind by floodwaters. In the Wichita area, the newly completed Big Slough-Cowskin floodway successively diverted one-third of the peak flow around the Arkansas River at Wichita gage and prevented more serious flooding in the city (U.S. Geological Survey, 1963, p. 44� 46).
June 17�, 1965
Severe flooding occurred along the Arkansas River upstream from Great Bend during June 17�, 1965, as a result of storms in the foothills and plains east of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico (Snipes and others, 1974, p. D4). Because the main storm did not directly affect Kansas, local flooding was minimal, but the Arkansas River overflowed from the western State line downstream to Great Bend. Flow in the Arkansas River peaked near the Colorado-Kansas State line on June 17. The peak discharges recorded at all gaging stations on the Arkansas River and upstream from Great Bend were larger than any previously recorded and had recurrence intervals greater than 50 years. As the crest of the flood progressed downstream to its junction with the Little Arkansas River on June 25, the peak discharge had decreased to a magnitude having a recurrence interval less than 10 years. Although inundation of the flood plain caused considerable damage to urban areas, such as Garden City and Dodge City, most of the estimated $16 million in damage was to cropland (Snipes and others, 1974, table 2, p. D28).
September朞ctober 1973
Significant flooding occurred in September and October 1973 in south-central Kansas. The flood was the result of abundant precipitation that continued for several weeks. Two USGS streamflow-gaging stations on Rattlesnake Creek recorded maximum stages and discharges for their respective periods of record on September 26 and 29 as did the gaging station on the Arkansas River near Hutchinson on September 28 (Perry and others, 2001).
June 15, 1981
On the afternoon of June 14, 1981, a series of intense thunderstorms along the forward edge of a stalled cold front produced 5 to 20 inches of precipitation in about 12 hours near Great Bend (Clement and Johnson, 1982). The storm affected about 350 square miles of tributaries to the Arkansas River upstream from Great Bend. The most extensive flooding occurred along Walnut and Dry Walnut Creeks in southwestern Barton County. Significant urban flooding was limited to the communities of Pawnee Rock and Great Bend. An estimated 3,000 people were evacuated by boat, truck, or helicopeter in Great Bend. Two-thirds of the city remained under about 4 feet of water on June 16. The Arkansas River south of Great Bend was 1 to 2 miles wide in places, and Walnut Creek had swollen to 2 miles wide (Lawrence Journal World, 1981). The resulting runoff produced peak discharges on Dry Walnut Creek on June 15 that were 1.5 to 3 times the discharge having a 100-year recurrence interval and caused about $42 million in damages. The storm was so localized that gaging stations around its perimeter recorded only nominal discharge, generally having a recurrence interval less than 2 years (Clement, 1991).
May朣eptember 1993
Excessive precipitation fell across south-central and southeastern Kansas from May朣eptember 1993 with more than the annual average falling during the 5-month period. May thunderstorms produced substantial precipitation that caused flooding in the lower Arkansas River Basin and its tributaries. USGS streamflow-gaging stations on the Ninnescah River near Peck and the Arkansas River at Arkansas City had notable maximum discharges. During the latter part of July, maximum peak discharges for the period of record were recorded at 10 streamflow-gaging stations, including Pawnee River near Burdett, Walnut Creek near Rush Center, Rattlesnake Creek near Zenith, Arkansas River near Maize, and the Arkansas River at Derby. Damage in the area was estimated at $6.5 million with two lives lost (Studley, 1998). Two hundred fifty-four houses were damaged, several thousand head of livestock were lost, more than 120,000 acres of crops were damaged, and nearly $1 million worth of farm machinery was destroyed (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 1993).
1998 Halloween Flood
A large and intense fall storm slowly rolled over the eastern one-half of Kansas on Halloween 1998 leaving a 2-day deluge of more than 6 inches of rainfall over a 20- county area. Some locations received almost a foot of rain that led to flash flooding as well as historic flooding of rivers draining the region. Nearly one-third of the USGS streamflow-gaging stations in Kansas recorded water levels above flood stage during the first week of November 1998 thus documenting the largest area flooded in Kansas since the 1993 floods. Six USGS gaging stations on the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers were above National Weather Service flood stage between October 31 and November 3, 1998 (Perry and Putnam, 1998). One notable occurrence of flooding was in the Cowskin Creek area of western Wichita. Nearly 170 homes and businesses along Cowskin Creek and its tributaries reported about $4 million in flood damage from the flood (Schminke and Wolf, 2001).
For more information on flooding along the Arkansas River, contact:
Jim Putnam
USGS
telephone: (785) 832-3573
E-mail: jputnam@usgs.gov