The Miami Conservancy District’s five dams have stored potential floodwater 2,048 times from their completion in 1922 through 2020. The number of storage events has climbed in recent decades, exceeding 300 events from 2010-2019, according to MCD.
The largest storage event since the system was put in place to prevent another disaster like the Great Flood of 1913 occurred in January 1959. Despite the severity of the 1959 event, just 16% of the five dams’ total 841,000 acre-feet storage capacity was used, according to MCD records.
Here are the top 10 storage events since the flood protection system was put into operation.
Credit: MIAMI CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
Credit: MIAMI CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
Here are two pages of coverage of the 1959 weather event from the Dayton Journal Herald and Dayton Daily News.
The fifth-largest storage event on record took place over a four-day span in December 2013.
Credit: MIAMI CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
Credit: MIAMI CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
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