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Flooding: The Allen County Flood of 1969
Flash flooding is particularly dangerous because it often occurs with little or
no warning. One of the most devastating floods on record in the Barren River
Area was a localized flash flood that hit Allen County in 1969. Shortly after
midnight in the morning of June 23, a line of thunderstorms moved into the
region and stalled ahead of a cold front. Warm tropical air from the Gulf of
Mexico provided the moisture necessary to produce a record six-hour rainfall
over the region, topped by 8.34 inches in Scottsville (Figure 5-4).
Figure 5-4. Total rainfall from thunderstorms on June 23, 1969.
Flooding was reported throughout the region. In Bowling Green, 100 homes were
flooded, and in Logan County roads were closed and crops were damaged. Simpson
County lost 12 bridges and Butler County lost two. But the greatest devastation
took place in Allen County, where a flash flood onTrammel Creek claimed three
lives and caused damage to 100 houses. Fifty percent of all cropland in the
county was damaged. Total damage was estimated at more than $28 million (Smith
and Conner, 2001).
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