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Birch River Monthly Spotlight August 2001 - The Floods of Birch During the series of July floods that swept through several of West Virginia's southern counties doing extensive damage, Birch River had episodes of high water but with no flooding.The reason is what it always has been: the narrow, V-shaped corridor through which Birch flows in its lower reaches prevents the river from spilling over its banks and flooding to any great extent. In the past, there has been some flood damage on upper Birch, where the river bottoms are broader, particularly at the town of Birch Village in Nicholas County. However, the river is not as large in its upper reaches as it is further down. Historically, the two largest floods of modern memory on Birch were those that occurred in 1932 and 1996. The Fourth of July flood of 1932 is believed to be the flood of record, based on eyewitness accounts. The 1932 flood was also the third largest ever recorded on Elk River at Sutton, a neighboring watershed. It was exceeded only by the floods of 1861 and 1918. There is no record of how Birch fared in 1861, but the 1918 flood was a very large flood on Birch as well as on the Elk. The 1932 flood was simply better documented. In the 1932 flood, the flow at Queen Shoals on Elk River, four miles above Clendenin, reached a record 72,000 cubic feet per second and of course Birch was a major contributor to that flow. That flow is the equivalent of 72,000 full size basketballs passing a given spot every second. Although the 1932 flood on Birch reigns supreme in modern times, the flood of 1996 - over six decades later- came close. The Army Corps of Engineers gauging station on Elk River, just above the mouth of Birch recorded a flow of 30, 300 cubic feet per second. At extremely high flows, Birch flooding would have an impact on the measurements at the Glendon gauging site. High water photos of Falls area - courtesy of Neal Gentry - See more of his work @ www.wolfpendigital.com |
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