This Day in Environmental History (Flood Control Act of 1938)

June 28, 1938—Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1938, authorizing civil engineering projects such as dams, levees, dikes and other flood control measures. 

The bill also gave the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) the authority to acquire land for flood control, while stipulating that the ACE limit construction. 

Other, more significant events occurred on June 28 in American history, notably the Supreme Court’s Bakke decision. But given the enormous tragedy that has occurred recently with Midwest flooding, I thought that flood control seemed like an unusually timely topic—not to mention one that’s little understood. 

The first fact that took me by surprise in researching this subject was that, unlike other pieces of legislation—Social Security, say—no one date stands out from any other in this area. In fact, the Flood Control Act needed a specific year attached to its name because at one point, one act of this type was being passed annually or biannually from 1917 through the next 25 years. 

Congress was first prompted to act concerning flooding in 1874, with an act providing for relief work after a severe flood along the Mississippi. Even the Johnstown Flood of 1889, which claimed more than 2,200 lives, did not prompt federal intervention in this area. Whatever legislation could be produced had to be justified as improving navigation rather than enhancing flood control, because of the constitutional scruples of a number of Congressmen. (What? Constitutional scruples? Congress? Did I hear you correctly?)

But floods along the Mississippi in 1912 and 1913 exposed the fallacy of the belief that the states were the best actors to handle this. In March 1917, partly as a result, Congress passed the first federal flood control legislation. It took the great Mississippi flood of 1927, however—a disaster which saw the Red Cross caring for almost 600,000 at one point—for the ACE to become convinced that levees alone would not prevent these disasters, but rather levees, floodways and spillways working together. 

With its belief in government and major projects, such as TVA—and particularly with the President’s interest in all matters environmental—the Roosevelt administration made flood control an even more urgent part of its overall program. The 1936 Flood Control Act, the real beginning of comprehensive federal flood control work, now stated explicitly that flood control was a "proper activity of the Federal Government in cooperation with States, their political subdivisions, and localities thereof." 

And, giving a further jab at those who wanted to limit federal interference in what had once been a state prerogative, the 1938 act listed recreation as one of the areas that the ACE should consider in planning these projects. Among the major projects shepherded into existence by this law was Center Hill in Tennessee, Mud Mountain Dam near Seattle, and Deer Creek Lake in Ohio (pictured). 

Disaster relief has become one of the areas most affected by federal government policy and administration. Because of the large numbers of people affected by Hurricane Katrina and the more recent flooding, I’m sure that, no matter which party wins this November, we’re likely to see greater federal supervision in this area. It’s likely to affect even more aspects of how people live—from insurance they get for their properties all the way to whether they will even be allowed to build in flood-prone areas.