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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Friday, July 12 <br /> <br />8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. <br /> <br />Susquehanna River Basin Floods, <br />January 1996 <br /> <br />Stan A. Brua <br />Water Control and Quality Section <br />Baltimore District <br />U.S. Army Corps of Engineers <br /> <br />An unprecedented combination of abnormal meteorological and hydrologic conditions produced <br />severe flooding throughout most of the 27,500 square mile Susquehanna River Basin on January <br />19-20, 1996. A record snowpack, unusually high air and dewpoint temperatures, high winds, <br />heavy rain, and thick ice cover on rivers and streams all contributed to rapidly rising stream <br />levels. A total of 4 to 6 inches of runoff from snowmelt and rainfall occurred over most of the <br />basin in about 6 hours. <br /> <br />Numerous ice jams formed and broke as streamflows increased, greatly accelerating the rate of <br />rise at many locations. At Harrisburg, PA, the normally one-mile-wide Susquehanna River rose <br />at a record rate. In a period of only 2 hours, the river level rose unexpectedly from about 7 feet <br />below flood stage to about 3 feet above flood stage, finally cresting at about 8 feet above flood <br />stage. <br /> <br />The flooding in the region claimed 33 lives and is estimated to have caused more than $1 billion <br />in damages. <br /> <br />1996 Willamette and Columbia River Flood <br /> <br />Cynthia A. Henriksen <br />U.S. Army Corps of Engineers <br />Portland, OR <br /> <br />The February 1996 flood was an event that was experienced not only in the Willamette Basin, <br />but throughout the Columbia River Basin. The Corps of Engineers' flood control projects in the <br />Willamette Basin were nearly empty when the flood began. Through the event the Willamette <br />projects released only minimum flow and filled. The Columbia River Projects had some flood <br />control space available, but because those projects were already drafting heavily to create flood <br />control space and to generate power, reducing flows in the Columbia was not as easy as the <br />Willamette. <br /> <br />10 <br />