5th Street in Zanesville after 1913 flood

Photograph showing 5th Street in Zanesville, Ohio, following the flood of 1913. Also visible in the photograph are Watts & Son Jewelers, Hills Bros. Dentists, and the Zanesville branch of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, among other shops and offices. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the water levels rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were overtopped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories of towns like Zanesville, where the Muskingum River had crested 27 feet above flood stage and water was 20 feet deep at several downtown intersections. The death toll for the disaster stood at 361, and property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes