Ticker for March 31, 2004

                
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March 31, 2004     March 31, 2004     March 31, 2004     March 31, 2004




An Important Week in Oklahoma Climate History

This weekend marks the 70th anniversary of the flood that ravaged
Hammon, OK on April 3-4, 1934. Seventeen Oklahomans lost their lives
as entire families - with their homes - were swept to their deaths by
the churning waters of an angry Washita River. Some victims were
found as far away as Custer County. Others were never found.

However tragic, the event helped galvanize a growing effort to tame
the Washita River by using a revolutionary flood control practice.
Upstream flood control means building a number of small earthen dams
on minor tributaries (opposed to the "downstream" method of placing
one large dam on the river's main stem). It had never been successfully
implemented, and was often ridiculed by "downstream" advocates.

But the persistence of the Upstream proponents eventually paid off.
The USDA launched its Washita River Project in the mid-1940s. The
program was a colossal success. In fact, it became the model for
more than 1,400 watersheds to follow.

Today, most of the Washita's upstream dams still stand. Together,
they represent a system that opened up an entrely new way of thought
in the world of flood control and soil conservation. They owe their
existence, in part, to seventeen lives lost 70 years ago this weekend.

The Washita River Project was featured in the Fall 2003 issue of
Oklahoma Climate, OCS's quarterly climate summary:

http://climate.mesonet.org/seasonal_summary.html