Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
attempt, he was able to grasp the rope and be pulled to safety. Note the water in the back-
ground rushing over the top of Portsmouth's $1-million floodwall, which proved inadequate
to keep the 1937 flood from inundating the town.
The stern-wheel ferryboat Captain John was christened the Nina Paden when she was built
in 1896 and later was renamed the City of Ashland when she began serving passengers
there. When Capt. John Davis bought her, he changed her name again. On January 21,
1937, she was ferrying passengers between Portsmouth and West Portsmouth across the
flooded Scioto River when she struck a log and sank.
There was no panic in Cincinnati on January 18, 1937, when protracted rain sent the Ohio
River past the 52-foot flood stage. But the rain kept falling, and the river kept rising. Ultim-
ately, the flood would crest on Tuesday, January 26, at 79.99 feet, a figure unequaled before
or since. Two days before, the city experienced its worst day: Black Sunday, when water
faucets went dry, the electricity failed, and fires swept through the city's industrial district.
