Celebrate Hadley Massachusetts

 

Floods

Floods and severe weather have wrought havoc upon Hadley through the years.  Going back eons, our very topography was formed by extremes in weather, from volcanoes, to glaciers, to floods.  Here is a list of some of the severe storms recorded since Hadley was settled.  The dike is essential to protecting Hadley, not only to keep the fierce current of a flooded Connecticut River from destroying buildings and farm land, but to keep the river from cutting a new channel.  If you take a look from the Virtual Hadley button on this website, and zoom out some, you can see the Connecticut River as it goes from Sunderland to South Hadley.  Old channels are evident from this view. 

1692    Heavy flooding of the Connecticut River first recorded, “the great flood” in February.  The grist mill and dam on Mill River had to be rebuilt.

1730    The town voted in May “to do something to preserve the bank from wearing”.  A committee called every man to work on the bank at the north end of the street for one day, with pay.

1737    North Lane had to be re-laid, as it had been worn away by the river.

1755    Earthquake on Nov 18

1801    Heavy flooding of Connecticut River in April – the “Jefferson Flood”.  Heaping piles of logs were left on the Fort Meadow as the flood happened during the log drive.

1817    First bridge built in 1808 across the Connecticut into Northampton, made of wood, collapsed during spring floods

       1854    Connecticut River flooded  in May

       1862    Connecticut River flooded, the greatest on record up to this time.

       1866    Connecticut River flooded.

          1869    Serious flood in October, destroyed corn and pumpkins.  River trash covered the meadows between the center of town and Hockanum.

       1877    Hurricane hit Hadley 

       1888    A blizzard hit Hadley.

       1896    Connecticut River flooded

       1909    Connecticut River flooded

       1913    Connecticut River flooded

 

       1927     Connecticut River flooded, much damage to buildings and crops

 

       1936    Connecticut River flooded, much damage to buildings and crops, "The Greatest Flood"
 

 

       1938    Connecticut River flooded, much damage to buildings and crops

 

       1948    Fort River flooded on July 17 at 4 AM

 

       1984    Connecticut River flooded, Hockanum Road closed,  under water near schoolhouse

 

1877 Hurricane

            A covered bridge built in 1826 over the Connecticut River into Northampton is wrecked by a hurricane.  As the storm hit, 16 people and 11 teams huddled inside the covered bridge for safety.  The hurricane lifted the bridge off its foundation and into the river.  One person was killed and three injured, the rest made it safely to the shore.

 

1896 Flood

Here is an account of the 1896 flood written by Charlie Thayer, age 12, for a school assignment at the Hockanum Schoolhouse.

“I thought somebody fired off a gun over across the river, but in a minute it began roar, crash, snap, crackle, bang.  The fog was so thick that I couldn’t see the riverbank but pretty soon it lifted and we could see the trees go down like cornstalks, as the big cakes of ice struck them. 

In the afternoon we went down to Titans Pier to see the ice go fast.  It did go fast with a vengeance and so did the hencoops, trees, barrels, beams, and such.  The noise was enough to make you deaf.

We went to school Thursday and had lots of fun sliding on cakes of ice.  There was plenty of it.”    

Charlie Thayer, Photo by Clifton Johnson

1927Flood

            On November 1^st there were torrential rains that continued for several days.  The Fort River rose as did the old Mill Pond on Friday November 4.  The Connecticut River covered the Aqua Vitae meadows and began to creep up the lower end of West Street.  By 4 AM the river was overflowing the bank at the North end of West Street, and by Saturday morning there was a great lake from Hopkins Academy to the Northampton Hadley bridge.  People were rescued from flooded homes, many stayed at the town hall and ate their meals in the First Church vestry.  By Saturday evening the water was receding and by Tuesday evening, November 8^th, people were back home.

 

1936 Flood

            In mid March, there was lots of snow on the ground, then came some days of warm temperatures and heavy rain which led to flooding.  The rivers carried debris and ice blocks which crashed into buildings and trees in their path.  College students were off on spring break, so the two colleges offered shelter in their gymnasiums.  Hadley folks stayed there for five days, then they were housed in the town hall and Russell School in Hadley, eating their meals in the First Church, served by the Women’s Club.  There was much damage to land below West Street and in Hockanum, and many buildings were flooded.

 

            Oral history clips: 

Listen to Ted McQueston's recollections of the flood of 1936, now!

Listen to Florence Russell's recollections of the flood of 1936, now!

 

A few days after the flood when some neighborhood boys could get down to the river’s edge in the Hockanum flats, they saw a barn among the river trash.  Venturing into the barn they were surprised to see a horse munching away on some hay.  The horse was fine, and the father of one of the boys was able to get it out and back to its owner in Northampton, where the barn had been located before the flood.
 

          1938 Hurricane and Flood

There had been heavy rain and the ground was saturated.  On September 21, around 4 PM a hurricane hit New England with winds of 90 to 120 mph.  Damage in town was extensive, thankfully no lives were lost.  190 barns were blown down, they were filled with corn, hay, livestock, farm machinery and implements. Several homes were damaged, and crops were damaged heavily.  The dike had started leaking and then broke.  “I looked toward the fields where tobacco sheds were going down, folding up like books” Leo Slanda, Hopkins ‘41.

More than 80 women and children slept in the First Church vestry on cots with blankets from the Town Hall.  And women worked in the kitchen to provide food.  From Thursday morning until Monday night the following meals were served: On Thursday 671 individual meals were served; on Friday, 710; Saturday, 444; Sunday, 170; and on Monday, 90.  Plus lunches were sent out to officers and men engaged in special work; and coffee and sandwiches were served to officers and others on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.  The Red Cross paid for the meals served to refugees.
 

          1948 Fort River floods

There was a heavy rain storm in South Amherst, “This cloudburst threw Fort River into such violent flood that it tore open its prehistoric channel again and formed a mouth into the Connecticut a mile north of the one near the covered bridge where it had flowed since first seen by the white men” (Charles Hiram Thayer).  The Fort River no longer flowed under the Hockanum Covered Bridge.  Charles Thayer tells of a farmer in Hadley near the South end of Middle Street who staked his cow out 200 yards from his house.  After the storm, the Fort River was now between his cow and him, and he had to lead the cow six miles to get her back to the barn.