The 1936 St. Patrick's Day Flood
Deluge was Worst Flood in Cumberland, Maryland’s History
© Jim Rada
Jan 13, 2009
The flood began as heavy rain on March 16, 1936. By mid-day on St. Patrick’s Day, almost three inches of rain had fallen, and it was still coming down.
Flooding Begins
Cumberland’s fire chief began notifying property owners in low-lying parts of the city. Though the water hadn’t breached the banks of either Wills Creek or the North Branch Potomac River, it was rising quickly.
The rain and above-freezing temperatures also began melting the snow on the surrounding mountains, which only added to the water in the rivers.
By mid-day, much of downtown Cumberland was under water with many first floors of buildings entirely underwater. Nearly all of the buildings held trapped refugees in the upper floors.
Dealing with the Flooding
Many people on the west side of Cumberland were trapped with no way to get across town.
“It began to grow dark. Fear that the electric lights would go out soon grew. Candles became precious and even matches were in great demand. The City Fathers, realizing that Cumberland was in for a siege created flood headquarters at City Hall from which to direct emergency activities. The Red Cross, with its usual dispatch, set up an emergency headquarters at the State Armory. Water was two feet deep in the streets by this time and still rising. Every pair of hip boots in town had been sold,” Historian Albert Feldstein wrote in the foreward to The Rain Man.
The local radio station got permission to continue broadcasting overnight to help keep residents informed of what was happening.
The Red Cross estimated that 1,200 families, or about 6,000 people, were washed out of their homes.
“We live just up the street a space on Mechanic. I never seen so much water and refuse come down the street like a ocean. I prayed all night long so our house would still be here in the morning,” one resident wrote.
Crews worked through the night trying to rescue people.
The National Guard was also called in to help maintain order.
Recovery from the Flooding
Whole companies of Civilian Conservation Corps workers were rushed in. The city hired scores of workers, and private contractors along with their men and equipment were pressed into service. The damaged areas were sealed off, and no one allowed to enter except on business. Reconstruction work progressed rapidly. Plate glass poured into the town and over 300 boarded-up windows were replaced the day after the flood.
The 1936 Flood Elsewhere
By the time the flooding subsided, more than 150 people had died and 16 states had experienced flooding. The Potomac River flooding alone impacted Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Washington, D.C. in what became known as the worst flood in eastern United States history.
The water levels in this flood exceeded the flood in March of 1924 to become the worst flood in Cumberland's long history of flooding.
Preparing for the Future
If anything good came of the flood, it is that it moved the U.S. Senate to approve several flood-control projects, including one along Wills Creek and the North Potomac River where they border Cumberland. The projects included levees, retaining walls, channel deepening and more. The bill became the Flood Control Act of 1936.
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