Cumberland River Floods

Cumberland River Floods. The place you are standing has been underwater many times, most recently in May 2010. The written history of floods on the Cumberland River at Nashville began in 1779 when European settlers first arrived. Just a few years later, in March 1793, there occurred what is believed to be the highest flood ever recorded here. , The first bridge, completed in 1823, was a wooden structure on stone piers. Because it blocked steamboat traffic when the river was high, the bridge was replaced in 1850. The first manager of the bridge, Greenwood Payne, kept a record of early floods. , In the 19th century, notable floods happened every decade or two. "The floods have come again," reported a newspaper in 1842. Twenty years later, at the onset of the Civil War, Federal troops successfully captured Nashville partly due to flooding 67 miles downriver at Fort Donelson. , The river was also used to float logs to sawmills, which were located on the opposite bank. , Low-lying land near the river often flooded, making it inexpensive real estate and home to poorer residents, who required evacuation in times of flooding. The land behind you was such an area, known as Black Bottom. The Wilson Springs creek that ran through it is buried underneath your feet to your right; today it is part of the city's storm water/sewer system., Photo caption (left):The first big 20th-century inundation began at the very end of 1926 and went into 1927. The river was so high that riverboats floated onto and parked on First Avenue North and the water reached Fourth Avenue South. The bridge to your left had to be closed due to water blocking the approaches at both ends. Where you are standing is shown in the lower right-hand corner of the photo., Photo caption (right): First Avenue was again flooded in May 2010. Dams built in the 1940s stopped the regular flooding of downtown Nashville, but the dams are not able to contain all flooding. In May 2010, over 13.5 inches of rain fell within 36 hours. The flood claimed the lives of 11 people in the Nashville area. , Samuel Weakley, an engineer who in the 1930s studied Nashville's flood history and who later worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, believed much worse flooding than has been recorded was possible. , "For two days past, large quantities of drift wood have been coming down the river without cessation. Large forest trees, broken and shivered, with their foliage upon them, have been floating past the city, together with fences, hayricks, wood, rails and lumber." -1869, a Nashville newspaper