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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Flood of March, 1902. On March 3 to 5, 1902, a flood 

 occurred which, at liochester, lacked but little if any of reach- 

 ing the hight of the great flood of 18G5. At Avon, twenty miles 

 above, the high-water mark reached was eight inches below that 

 of 18G5. Owing to a fortunate combination of circumstances 

 the damage resulting from this flood within the city of Rochester 

 was much less than that in 18G5, but only prompt and energetic 

 measures on the part of city and canal officials and the rarest 

 good fortune prevented the damage from exceeding that of 1865. 

 This flood was due to the more common cause of floods on this 

 catchment, namely, the general melting of the snows by warm 

 rains. This flood reached its maximum hight at Rochester on 

 the afternoon of March 3. 



Flood of July, 1902. On July G to 13, there occurred a flood 

 on the Genesee which, from the time of the year, the high stage 

 of water in certain parts of the river, and the extent and severity 

 of the damage arising from it on a certain portion of the catch- 

 ment, is without precedent in the history of Genesee floods. 



The rains over the catchment generally had been unusually 

 heavy during the latter part of June and the early part of July, 

 and the ground was thoroughly saturated with water. On July 6 

 the rainfall reached a climax which culminated in a so-called 

 " cloudburst 99 in the region covering the northern central por- 

 tion of Allegany county. At Angelica, within this district, the 

 rainfall on July 6 amounted to 4.5 inches. Heavier rainfalls 

 than this have occurred occasionally on the catchment area with- 

 out producing severe floods. This fact, coupled with the fact 

 that a number of private observers unofficially claimed much 

 heavier precipitation than the Angelica office reports, raises some 

 doubt as to whether the Angelica station itself may not have 

 escaped the severe downpour, or whether the marked difference 

 in the results may be due wholly to the difference of satura- 

 tion of the ground. The former alternative is rather dis- 

 counted by the fact that the catchment at Angelica creek 

 itself, of which the station is not far from the center, suffered 

 the most severe flood in its history. This remark in fact is time 

 of the entire catchment of the Genesee in the aggregate down 

 as far < r is Portage falls. Tt is well established by repeated evi- 

 dence that the hight which the flood attained at Tortage was 



