Clarendon AR: Where We've Been: 1927 Flood

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The 1927 flood was one of the greatest natural disasters that has ever occurred in this country. Of the several states hit hard by the flood along the Mississippi River, Arkansas was the hardest hit. Many people died, hundreds of thousands were left homeless, and millions of dollars in damage was done.

The flood devastated several communities in Arkansas, and one of the most devastated was Clarendon. Many citizens of Clarendon fought desperately, like citizens of many other communities, to save their homes, but their efforts were in vain. The White River levee broke and destroyed much of the town. The citizens of Brinkley helped many of the Clarendon refugees. Had it not been for the Red Cross, many people would have starved, not only in Clarendon, but also in other flood stricken communities.

In the winter of 1926, unusually heavy rain began to fall on the Mississippi River Valley. The torrential rains continued through the spring of 1927 and caused widespread flooding. The ground became saturated, and put an ever-increasing water load on the Mississippi's tributaries, which in turn put a heavy load on the Mississippi. The drainage area of the Mississippi River and its main tributaries consist of 125 million square miles, which is about 40 percent of the continental United States.

The network of levees throughout the river valley robbed the Mississippi of its natural flood plain, putting even more pressure on the river. The pressure became so great in 1927 that the levees broke in 145 places, flooding millions of acres of land.

In all, the flood waters covered 16,570,627 acres, causing over $400 million in damages, forcing over 900,000 out of their homes, and killing 246 people in seven states - Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce at the time, called it "America's greatest peace time disaster." Termed the Great Flood of 1927, it was the worst natural disaster to occur in the United States this century. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi were the most affected, with Arkansas being the hardest hit.

Arkansas received much of the heavy rains as well. By the first of April, Arkansas was already a half an inch above its yearly average of rainfall, and by April 17, the state had received over ten more inches. All of this water caused the rivers and streams to swell beyond capacity. The major tributaries to the Mississippi that flow through Arkansas include the White, the Arkansas, and the St. Francis Rivers. The water in these tributaries could not flow into the Mississippi River. The Mississippi rose so high that the White River was forced to flow upstream for a day. The large amount of water put a tremendous amount of pressure on the levee system protecting numerous Arkansas towns.

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