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<br />caused flood damage of almost $1 million. This was 7 years before <br />completion of Lovewell Reservoir on White Rock Creek. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />~. Floods of May-July 1951. Although the May-July 1951 <br />floods reached unprecedented stages in the southern and eastern <br />parts of the Kansas River basin, the storm centers were so locsted <br />that severe, but not record flooding, occurred in the Republicsn <br />River basin, chiefly in the valleys of Beaver, Sappa, Prairie Dog, <br />and Buffalo Creeks and downstream along the main stem. The flood <br />damages on 108,600 acres of flood plains in the Republican River <br />basin exceeded $10 million. <br /> <br />!~ Flood of May 1953. Prairie Dog Creek experienced the <br />maximum flood of record at Norton, Kansas, on 28 May 1953. Rainfall <br />amounts of over 11 inches were reported in the upstream areas and <br />produced a phenomenal rise at the Norton gaging station of 17 feet <br />in less than one hour. The rapid rise caused abnormally high live- <br />stock losses and made nearly impossible any evacuation ahead of the <br />flood crest. Swift currents destroyed small buildings and. scoured <br />flood plain areas. The most severe flooding extended through a <br />reach of about 60 miles. Near-record flooding was experienced in <br />the upper Sappa Creek basin. also. The total flood damage was <br />estimated in excess of $2 million. <br /> <br />g. Frenchman Creek flood of 1956. On 16 June 1956, a localized <br />storm which was centered in the vicinity of and below Enders Dam <br />caused the flood of record along the lower reaches of Frenchman <br />Creek and along its principal tributary, Stinking Water Creek. <br />Intense rainfall on the 94 square miles of drainage area between the <br />dam and Wauneta, Nebraska, (1960 population 794) gene~ated a flood <br />which inundated 60 percent of the residential area and 90 percent <br />of the business district of the town, where the urban loss amounted <br />to $221,000. The total flooded area was 11,100 acres and the total <br />damage $764,000. Enders Reservoir, which had been completed in 1950, <br />was credited with reducing the flood stage at Wauneta by 0.7 foot <br />and preventing an additional $104,000 in damages in the valley. <br /> <br />h. Floods of June 1957. Heavy and prolonged rains occurred <br />during June 1957 throughout much of the west-central part of the <br />Kansas River basin, including the right-bank tributary areas of the <br />Republican River. Antecedent rains had saturated the ground and <br />runoff was relatively high. A record flood stage was reached by <br />Beaver Creek near the Kansas-Nebraska State line on 30 May, and this <br />was followed by extensive flooding in mid-June along Beaver, Sappa, <br />and Prairie Dog Creeks. Although these floodflows were impounded <br />in Harlan County Reservoir, intense rainfall belOW the dam produced <br />sufficient tributary runoff to cause the third largest discharge of <br />record at the Hardy, Nebraska, gaging station on the Republican River, <br />on.17 June 1957. Flood damage along the main stem amounted to $2.5 <br />million and in the Beaver, Sappa, and Prairie Dog Creek valleys, <br />$2 million. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />10 <br />