Northeast flood – Spring 1936

Rain concurrent with snowmelt set the stage for this flood. It affected the entire state of New Hampshire. In Maine, a major flood washed out railroad tracks along the Androscoggin River east of Bethel and the industrial section of Rumford. Jay saw its mills and factories along the river damaged. The East Turner bridge was again destroyed. The iron bridge between Lisbon Falls and Durham washed away. Along the Kennebec River, the Ticonic bridge was washed downstream at Waterville, Maine. In all, damage totaled US$113 million (1936 dollars), and 24 people were killed. Damage was significant along the C&O Canal during the greatest of all Potomac River floods. The flood carried off many of the bridges along the Potomac from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to Hancock, Maryland. Pittsburgh suffered the worst floods in its history.



Anacostia River, during the 1936 Potomac River flood.

Potomac River



The Potomac River surges over the deck of Chain Bridge during the historic 1936 Flood. The bridge was so severely damaged by the raging water, and the debris it carried, that its superstructure had to be re-built; the new bridge was opened to traffic in 1939. (This photograph was taken from a vantage point on Glebe Road in Arlington County, Virginia. The houses on the bluffs in the background are located on the Potomac Palisades of Washington, DC.)