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1888 Flood Index


Events Button
▶  WHEELING HISTORY  ▶  EVENTS  ▶  FLOODS 

▼ Flash Floods of 1888 Quick Links

 ▼ Flood Info  |   ▼ Images   |  ▼ News Articles   |  ▼ Additional Resources 


The Ohio River Flash Floods of 1888 in Wheeling

 Date: July 19, 1888  High water mark: ?    (below over flood stage, but destructive)
 Date: August 21-22, 1888  High water mark: 32.2 ft    (below over flood stage, but destructive)

The summer of 1888 saw two major destructive flash floods: July 19 and August 21-22. The first resulted in loss of life and widespread destruction, including the B&O trestle over Wheeling Creek. The second destroyed the Main Street Bridge. These were just a few weeks after a major flooding incident in central West Virginia.

The flooding of August 21 & 22, 1888 was the result of a category 3 hurricane (hurricanes were not named in those days as is today's convention) which landed in Louisiana around Aug. 20, and followed the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers north. 


Images

1888 Flash Flood


Newspaper Articles

 ▶ "LIVES LOST AND PROPERTY DESTROYED," Wheeling Intelligencer, July 20, 1888
 ▶ "STILL WORSE THE LATER REPORTS SHOW The Ruin and Desolation of the Fearful Flood," Wheeling Intelligencer, July 21, 1888

 ▶ "RUIN RIDES UPON THE AWFUL FLOOD ," Wheeling Intelligencer, Aug. 22, 1888


Additional Resources

▶ Vertical File: Wheeling Flood of 1888, Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ Binder: Wheeling Floods, Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ Archival Collection: Flood Photographs [1884-1936], OCPL Archives, non-circulating, appointment must be made to view collection.


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