Water do you have it yet?

[FirefightnRick]

A very interesting report about the Trinity River and it's four forks, and the history of  flooding in Tarrant county and the reservoirs that the four forks feed into and the importance that they serve today.

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article25509598.html

 

 

Controlling flooding

To cope with the mood swings along the Trinity, reservoirs were built to control floodwaters and create a water supply.

In Tarrant County, records about floods date to 1822. As Fort Worth grew, the impact of floods would become an issue.

The Fort Worth Gazette reported on July 5, 1889, “that thousands of people visited the bluff to see the huge sheet of water surrounding Fort Worth beyond the river.”

In April 1922, torrential downpours dumped 11 inches of water in two days. Trinity River levees had 17 breaches, resulting in at least 10 deaths and more than $1 million in damage, according to the Tarrant Regional Water District. That triggered calls for a water district to develop flood control and protect the water supply.

In 1938, Marine Creek flooded the Stockyards and much of the north side.

The 1949 flood is considered the worst in Fort Worth history. At the time, funding had been approved for Benbrook Lake, which would control water from the Clear Fork, but it had yet to be built. At least 10 people were killed and 13,000 left homeless by the 1949 flood — triggered by 10 to 12 inches of rain falling along Mary’s Creek and the Clear Fork.

“Traditionally, the Clear Fork was the toughest to tame,” Fort Worth historian Quentin McGown said. “Lake Benbrook came as a part of that. Had Benbrook been completed, the ’49 flood would have largely been averted.”

By the next major flood, in 1957, Benbrook Lake was in place to limit floodwaters on the Clear Fork.

“Anytime you get 12 inches in a single watershed, you’re probably going to have some flooding,” McGown said. “That’s one thing to note is we didn’t get close to that this time. Yet you can imagine without the channelization and reservoirs, it would have been a mess.”

 

 

 

Rickead more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article25509598.html#storylink=

Edited June 26, 2015 by FirefightnRick