DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Arms Family Museum shows history of local flooding

Monday, I was scheduled to see Liz Nohra about the flood exhibit at the Arms Family Museum of Local History in Youngstown.
On Sunday, three firetrucks and two police cars came to our neighbors' house, where a lightning bolt blew out their back windows and started a fire in the cellar.
A week earlier, my daughter called and told me my car was stranded where she'd parked it on Clifton Drive in Boardman. It was high and dry at her friend's house, but the bottom two-thirds of the dead-end street was under water. The sewers had backed up under the heavy rains.
"People are pushing their cars," Hannah said. "The cars are floating, and one person is pushing a car by himself!"
And so it was with a great sense of relevancy that I walked through the beautiful Arms Museum on Wick Avenue and arrived at the 20-foot stretch of wall that held the exhibit of flood photos.
Flood history display
The mostly black-and-white pictures (a few taken in the last week or so are in color) are in chronological order, beginning with the 1904 flood. The first shows the floodwaters up to the base of the Spring Common Bridge, where the John Young statue now stands.
Another is of Baldwin's Mill. To get an idea of the water depth, there is a photo of a storage barn on the property with just its roof poking above the water.
"That flood spurred discussion for the need for some type of control, perhaps a dam," said Nohra, who is assistant director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society. "But it wasn't until 1916 that a dam project finally was started. Unfortunately, there was another major flood in 1913."
Which brings us to the next set of photographs and a startling Vindicator front page. The newspaper is dated March 16, 1913, and is labeled FLOOD EXTRA: "Wild Waters Climb and Bridges Go; Chamber of Commerce Plans Relief." Nohra said that widespread flooding cost the state of Ohio $180 million and rendered 20,000 Ohioans homeless.
The six-day downpour left 75,000 millworkers between Cleveland and Youngstown without work while the waters receded and the damage was repaired. Mahoning Country had 8 inches of rain on "already saturated ground," Nohra said.
The B & amp;O Railroad station was flooded, its first floor under water.
"There were fires that broke out. People lost lives, and mills were closed," Nohra said. Another picture shows a train submerged, except for its top.
"Trains were floating off the tracks. A barn washed away. All over Youngstown, people were trying to save livestock," Nohra said. "At Basin Street, the water was 4 feet high. Sewer, water, gas and electric were out. The West Avenue bridge was destroyed. The city was shut down."
Ongoing flooding
Pointing to one of the photos, she said, "What really fascinates me is the spectacle of the thing. Look. Here are people lined up along the river watching the floodwaters."
The next set of photos shows the dam being built at Lake Milton.
Still, in January 1959, the river rose 13 feet above normal. "It was rain and snow," Nohra said pointing at another set of pictures. "It flooded railroad tracks and industrial property. Forty people had to be rescued from Crab Creek. Two intersections by Spring Common flooded, and police posted warning signs about flash flooding. But motorists ignored them and got stuck. The sewers couldn't drain fast enough."
"The feeling of helplessness is what makes it so bad," said Nohra, who admits to having a storm phobia herself. "I know I was humbled on my drive down Tibbetts-Wick Road Sunday."
The small exhibit, which ends with photos taken last week at the B & amp;O and Mill Creek, will be on display at the Arms Museum as long as people show an interest (or until the city dries out!).
murphy@vindy.com