New PBS documentary explores devastating 1913 Ohio flood

A day that was forecast to have “generally fair” weather ended up as the worst weather disaster in Ohio history.

It was Easter Sunday 1913, with cool temperatures greeting churchgoers for that morning’s services across Northeast Ohio. By the time Easter services were ending, a steady, chilly rain had started to fall, ruining bonnets, dresses and suits. And the rain didn’t stop.

Over a four-day period, up to a foot of rain fell across Ohio. Monday alone brought almost five inches to a state already saturated from a winter’s worth of snow and ice. Streams and rivers quickly overflowed their banks.

By Monday night, what came to be known as “the great Ohio flood” was creating devastation across the state. Estimates of the number of people killed vary from around 350 to more than 500, although many historians believe those numbers are too low.

The storm and the impact of the flood on Northeast Ohio are subjects of a new documentary by veteran writer, producer and journalist Fred Endres, a professor emeritus in the School of Media and Journalism at Kent State University and a resident of Stow. “Northeast Ohio & the Great Flood of 1913” will air on Western Reserve PBS at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13.

“The sheer amount of rain in so short a time period just overwhelmed the rivers, streams and canals,” Endres stated in a press release previewing the documentary. “There was no infrastructure in place back then to keep flood waters from blowing out canal locks and dams in rivers.”

The southern part of the state was hit the hardest, but Northeast Ohio was not spared from the damage, devastation and death. City streets became powerful rivers. Farm animals drowned. Gas and electricity were lost. Communication and transportation systems collapsed. Canoes were used to ferry terrified residents to safety.

Major rivers in Northeast Ohio – the Cuyahoga, Little Cuyahoga, Mahoning, Chagrin – roared through towns, destroying houses, roads, bridges and railroad tracks.

Early newspaper headlines screamed of thousands of deaths. “There was little accurate information for days,” Endres said. “Newspapers and wire services reported a lot of rumors and exaggerated claims early on.”

Cleanup from the four-day storm took anywhere from months to years and cost millions of dollars. The U.S. Geological Survey put the damage in Ohio at $143 million – about $4.5 billion in today’s money.

“Just about every city and town in Ohio suffered damages during the storm,” Endres said. “We focus on Akron and Kent in the documentary, and they tend to be fairly representative of what happened in other areas in Northeast Ohio.”

The program includes dozens of photographs of the flood and flood damage in Akron, Kent and other nearby towns. Endres said he was amazed at the number and quality of images available through such organizations as the Akron-Summit County Public Library, Kent State University, the University of Akron, the Summit County Historical Society and the Barberton Public Library.

“Those images really show the extent of the devastation and human suffering in Northeast Ohio and throughout the state,” he said, thanking local librarians and archivists for their dedication to preserving the history of the disaster. “They are unsung heroes. They do an extraordinary job in finding materials.”

Endres has written and produced other documentaries that have also appeared on Western Reserve PBS, including “The ‘Sojer Boys’ of Portage County”; “Akron, Ringling & the ‘Blue Heaven’ Circuit”; “Seances & Slot Machines: The Story of Brady Lake Park”; and “Under Fire, Under Siege: Strikebreakers in Kent, Ohio.”