52 Ancestors 2021: Week 45: Stormy Weather

I really can't tell you about my ancestors and storms they've had to weather - I've never been made privy to many stories. I know the 1937 Flood impacted our area heavily and I know my ancestors that lived here in Henderson lived through it. My maternal Grandpa was less than a year old when it happened or else I'd have more stories from it to tell. 

The 1937 Flood decimated river areas of our county. The Alzey Bottoms, Scuffletown Bottoms, and other areas were never, ever the same. A lot of cemeteries, historically, are gone from the Alzey area after the '37 Flood. I believe it's what destroyed the remaining remnants of the Alves Family Cemetery, or so I've always been told. 

The '37 Flood was brought on by 21 inches of rain falling within an 18 day time period... and I also believe it was brought on by the fact that in 1936, it was so cold, the Ohio River literally froze over. All that ice melting had to go somewhere, y'know? 

It was because of that historic flood that Henderson gained its motto. "On the Ohio, but never in it!" 

A few of Henderson's more peculiar weather events include the Great Sleet of 1901, where sleet fell for three weeks straight in February of that year. A resident was quoted as saying, "Horses had to have special shoes to keep their footing on local roads." 

In 1908, Henderson was part of a drought that drastically reduced the Ohio River levels. In fact, according to history, the river level was so low that boys played baseball in the river bed. This is a particular event that I wish we had photographs of. It's hard to picture the Ohio River that dry. 

In 1914, Henderson was hit by what has been dubbed a "baby cyclone." "Hail as large as partridge eggs," according to a historian, fell for ten minutes straight and strong winds uprooted many, many large trees in the area. The storm only lasted for about thirty minutes, and on the north end of town, it seems they got the worst of it. It was reported that several homes were completely brought down. Just twenty-six days later, the city was hit by a tornado which left two dead and others injured, and much of the city in ruins. 

In my own lifetime, we've seen an increasing number of tornadic activity in Henderson County over the last few years. We also were hit pretty heavy in 2009 by the infamous Ice Storm. That was an insane event to live through. No more insane than what my parents lived through -- the Blizzard of '77 - '78. We also had quite bad floods in 1997, 2007, and I think 2009 as well. 

November 6th, 2005, we're known as the beginning point of a bad tornado that took many lives in Evansville and Newburgh, Indiana. The tornado, I believe, originally formed in the Smith Mills river bottoms in Henderson County. 

I remember back in my childhood, I want to say it was about 2003 or 2004, we had an awful storm that spawned a small tornado over our house. It twisted a tree in our front yard up out of the ground and the tree, when it came down, snapped our telephone line. I'm not sure that event was ever recorded as an official tornado, but it was very obvious by the 'twist' of the tree. It was just a small Bradford Pear, so it wasn't a huge Oak or nothing like that. Tornado probably was nothing but a little EF-0, but still, it scared me as a child. 

If I can think of any other historical weather events to add to this, I might, over time. For right now though, these are the major ones that come to my mind. I think I remember reading once where it snowed every month of the year. I think I also remember hearing about a 'hurricane' coming through - that might be the 'baby cyclone' I mentioned. It supposedly knocked trolley cars off their rails downtown.