UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES

In 1993, spring came in like a lion, but refusedto go out like a lamb. Day after day, heavyrainfall blanketed the nation’s midsection. Summer arrived, and driving rains continued to soak the Midwest. Rivers and streams crept higher and higher, overflowing their banks and flowing across a nine-state region that stretched more than 800 miles long and 500 miles across at its widest point. In some locations, flooding lasted for nearly 200 days. As many as 150 major rivers and tributaries were affected, and 14 rivers reported record crests. Several of these rivers— the Mississippi and the Missouri—are among the largest in the nation. Of more than 1,000 levees built to hold back the floodwaters, 800 were breached, leaving at least 75 entire communities submerged. According to a report issued by the National Weather Service, 50 people died as a result of the floods; tens of thousands of people were evacuated; at least 10,000 homes were destroyed; and damages approached $15 billion. The Midwest Flood of 1993 ranks sixth among FEMA’s list of top ten disasters. A total of 534 counties in nine states received federal disaster aid, and FEMA provided more than $1.17 billion in disaster assistance. According to Census Bureau figures, there were more than 12.7 million households in those states that flooded during the spring and summer of 1993. When the rains began in April of 1993, National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) had underwritten 87,456 policies in the affected states. By the time the floodwaters receded and all insurance claims were closed, the NFIP had paid more than $319 million for almost 16,800 losses