The Flood Control Act of 1937 (FCA 1937) was an
Act of the United States Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called private laws), or to the general public ( public laws). For a bill to become an act, the text must pass through both house ...
signed into law by
President
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*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
on August 28, 1937, as Public Law 406. The act was a response to major flooding throughout the United States in the 1930s, culminating with the "Super Flood" of January 1937, the greatest flood recorded on the lower
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
. FCA 1937 provided nearly $25 million for initial construction of projects selected by the
Chief of Engineers
The Chief of Engineers is a principal United States Army staff officer at The Pentagon. The Chief advises the Army on engineering matters, and serves as the Army's topographer and proponent for real estate and other related engineering programs. ...
from those listed in the Ohio Valley Flood Control Program (published as Flood Document No. 1, 75th congress, 1st Session). Among the numerous projects authorized, the act provided for construction of
floodwall
A flood wall (or floodwall) is a primarily vertical artificial barrier designed to temporarily contain the waters of a river or other waterway which may rise to unusual levels during seasonal or extreme weather events. Flood walls are mainly u ...
s,
levee
A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...
s, and
revetment
A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water
...
s along Wolf River and Nonconnah Creek for protection of
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
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* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
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, TN and modified the
Yazoo River
The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the Mississippi Delta, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before the ...
project to substitute a combined reservoir floodway and levee plan.
Section 2 authorized small clearing and snagging projects for
flood control
Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
, limited in Federal cost per project (50 Stat. 877, 33 U.S.C. 7Olg).
FCA 1937 was subsequently amended on
Many of the provisions of FCA 1937 are administered by the
.
* 24 July 1946 by Section 13,
* 24 September 1954 by Section 208, (these projects are customarily referred to as "Section 208 Projects")
* 7 March 1974 by Section 26,
* 17 November 1986 by Section 915(b),
Water Resources Development Act of 1986 The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (WRDA 1986) is part of {{USPL, 99, 662, a series of acts enacted by Congress of the United States on November 17, 1986.
WRDA 1986 established cost sharing formulas for the construction of harbors, inland ...
, . The latter amended the Federal limit per project to $500,000.
See also
*
Water Resources Development Act
Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), is a reference to public laws enacted by Congress to deal with various aspects of water resources: environmental, structural, navigational, flood protection, hydrology, etc.
Typically, the United States Arm ...
*
Rivers and Harbors Act
Rivers and Harbors Act may refer to one of many pieces of legislation and appropriations passed by the United States Congress since the first such legislation in 1824. At that time Congress appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the Ohio and ...
- for related legislation which sometimes also implements flood control provisions.
References
External links
* Flood Control Act of 1937. Pub. L. 75-406. 49 Stat. 1586. 28 August 1937
Library of Congress
United States federal public land legislation
1937 in the environment
1937 in law
1937
Events
January
* January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua.
* January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...
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