207 



that from March 23 up to the moniiiig of tlic -7th. H.-iiipirvillc. Ohio, had a 

 total of i).."iO inches (the iioniial rainfall for tlic wiioh' nioiitli of Marih at 

 that ])lace is 3.93 inches) ; Marion. Ohio. Kt.dO inches (normal for the 

 month 3.51 inches I : I'.ellefontaine. Ohio, 11.10 inches (monthly normal, 

 3.79 inches). 



In the state of Indiana, in places, at leasr. the precipitation was even 

 greater than in tho.se just mentioned for Oliio. Imh' exanii)le at lUcxnninji- 

 ton, Indiana, on March ^.Ith. (J.aO inches" of r.iiii fell, and for the month of 

 March 13.-'! inches. The noriiial r.-iinfall for lUooiiiiniitoii tor .March is 

 about 3.01 inches. The (>..">(> inches of rainfall on March iMtli. which was 

 probably equaled or excelled in other stati's. occiirri'd to a greater or less 

 extent over at least half of the state of Indian.-i. This inniicnse volume of 

 water from an aica in Indiana of about 1S,17."> scpiare nules rushed away 

 from the deforested hills luiimpeded. As ;i residf almost every stream in 

 the .state was immediatel.v flooded far beyond its banks and every movable 

 object washed awa.\'. It is ])rol)ablc that with such hu,i;-e and sudden preiipi- 

 tations as occurred in March of l!il."> tiie floods would not have been entirel.v 

 prevented if the re.iiion affected had been <dV('rc(l by a dense forest. It 

 would have prevent(>d. however, most of this Lcreat flood and at the same 

 time have prevented ail ov nearly all of the destructive results. If the flood 

 during the spring of 1913 had occurred in winter, when the ground was 

 frozen hard and coveied with a deep snow, the results would have been 

 aiipalling beyond description. Under such conditions in the deforested 

 area the snow would soon have been melted and have added to the volume 

 of water. The frozen soil could not have absorl'ed any of the water; little 

 forest remains to ha-\e checked the flow in any way, so tliat the crest of the 

 flood would have Iteen higher and the extent of its destruction would have 

 been much greatei- than it was. Yet this is exac-fly what Indiana and 

 other states nuiy expect sooner or later. Anotiun- great flood like that of 

 1913 might occur says Reynolds' "within the next decade, especially if, as 

 asserted, we are now i)assing through a cycle of wet years." Under present 

 conditions, however, with the greater part of tlie forests gone, and their 

 destruction going rapidly on, we can easily see that heavy and sudden 

 precipitations of equal intensify to those just referred to will cause greater 

 floods and bring greater havoc than before. Floods are fre(iuently fol- 



5 Government Station Report for Blooniington, Ind., March 2.5, 1913. 



' Reynolds, Robert U. R. The Ohio Floods: Their Cause and The Remedy. American For- 

 estry, May, lfll3, p. 288. 



