Comparison With Other Colossal Floods
Channeling and levee construction altered how the floods have hit various areas along the Missouri River. Here is a comparison of Kansas City data for the three big floods since the early 19th century.
- Great Flood of 1844 – This was the biggest flood of the three in terms of rate of discharge at Westport Landing in Kansas City. It is estimated that 625,000 cubic feet per second (17,700 m³/s) was discharged in the flood. However, the crest on July 16, 1844, was almost a foot (0.3 m) lower than the 1993 flood.
- Great Flood of 1951 – The 1951 flood was the second biggest in terms of rate of discharge at 573,000 ft³/s (16,200 m³/s). The 1951 crest on July 14, 1951, was almost two feet (0.6 m) lower than the 1844 flood and three feet (1 m) lower than 1993. However, the flood was the most devastating of all modern floods for Kansas City since its levee system was not built to withstand it. It destroyed the Kansas City Stockyards and caused Kansas City to build Kansas City International Airport away from the Missouri River bottoms to replace the heavily damaged Fairfax Airport in Kansas City, Kansas.
- Great Flood of 1993 – The 1993 flood was the highest of any of the three but had the lowest discharge at 541,000 ft³/s (15,300 m³/s). While the 1993 flood had devastating impacts elsewhere, Kansas City survived it relatively well because of levee improvements after the 1951 flood.
Studies of the Flood – This 1993 flood was also used to model other natural disasters and simulate potential flood impacts in areas awaiting more extensive flood control efforts. See http://www.marshall.edu/cber/research/trp00-04.pdf for a study by Mark Burton and Michael J. Hicks.
Read more about this topic: Great Mississippi And Missouri Rivers Flood Of 1993
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