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Floods at Great Falls
Great Falls Park
The high-water marks seem hard to believe, but powerful Potomac River waters sometimes cover this area. How can that happen? High water occurs at least once a year when all the rocks in the falls are covered. Floods occur about every 10 years after extremely heavy rainfall or a series of storms upstream in the Potomac River watershed. When the deluge reaches Mather Gorge, where the riverbed narrows from nearly 1,000 feet into a rocky, mile-long funnel 60 to 100 feet wide, the waters have no place to rise but upward. As high waters recede, they deposit organic matter, minerals, and seeds that help make this one of the nation's most biologically diverse areas.
Major Floods
1936 March 18-19 -- Highest Recorded flood after rapid melting of snow and ice and torrential rains
1937 April 26-27 -- Heavy rainfall
1942 October 15-17 -- After 10-19 inches of rain in parts of watershed
1972 June 24 -- Hurricane Agnes
1985 November 4-7 -- Tropical Storm Juan
1996 January 19-22 -- Blizzard followed by warming temperatures and rain
1996 September 6-8 -- Tropical Storm Fran floodwaters came up to the pole's base, unmarked. |