Down In the Flood
1936
“The greatest disaster ever to befall the State of New Hampshire.” That’s how Gov. H. Styles Bridges described the Great Flood of 1936. The New Hampshire Flood Reconstruction Council’s official report called it “the most severe in 300 years.” After a “remarkably steady” winter, the rains began in the second week of March.
“Ice jams coming with the breakup of ice in the rivers on March eleventh to thirteenth 1936 caused flooding of many areas that would not otherwise have been affected. That flooding had barely subsided when heavy rains on the eighteenth to twenty-first coming with warm weather that rapidly melted the snow cover resulted in the worst flood in the 300-year history of New England. The stream flow at Garvin's Falls on the Merrimack which had seemed threatening at 50,000 cubic feet a second during the first stage of the flood was doubled during the second.” —Everett Sackett, Fifty Years of Service
These photos were taken between March 19 and 21 when the flood came through Manchester’s Millyard. During that time, the Merrimack River peaked 17.2 feet over the Amoskeag dam, right in back of the building that is now Eversource’s Energy Park offices. Attempts were made to slow the tide with sand bags, but the flood waters persisted.
According to the New England Historical Society, “Police worked around the clock evacuating families from their homes, snatching some from rooftops, as the Merrimack washed away houses. The National Guard was called up to help police. … The flood badly damaged the giant mills owned by the bankrupt Amoskeag Industries, washing away any hope that the company could revive.” New Hampshire wasn’t alone, of course; all of New England was hit hard: “The flood burst dams, wiped out roads, ruined businesses and washed away homes. As many as 200 people were killed and 14,000 left homeless.”
This wasn’t the first time Manchester’s Millyard was flooded; check out these photos from the Flood of 1896, which took place almost exactly 40 years prior.
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