{"product_id":"the-thousandyear-flood-the-ohiomississippi-disaster-of-1937","title":"The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the early days of 1937  the Ohio River  swollen by heavy winter rains  began rising. And rising. And rising. By the time the waters crested  the Ohio and Mississippi had climbed to record heights. Nearly four hundred people had died  while a million more had run from their homes. The deluge caused more than half a billion dollars of damage at a time when the Great Depression still battered the nation.  Timed to coincide with the floods seventy-fifth anniversary  The Thousand-Year Flood is the first comprehensive history of one of the most destructive disasters in American history. David Welky first shows how decades of settlement put Ohio valley farms and towns at risk and how politicians and planners repeatedly ignored the dangers. Then he tells the gripping story of the rivers inexorable rise: residents fled to refugee camps and higher ground  towns imposed martial law  prisoners rioted  Red Cross nurses endured terrifying conditions  and FDR dispatched thousands of relief workers. In a landscape fraught with dangersfrom unmoored gas tanks that became floating bombs to powerful currents of filthy floodwaters that swept away whole townspeople hastily raised sandbag barricades  piled into overloaded rowboats  and marveled at water that stretched as far as the eye could see. In the floods aftermath  Welky explains  New Deal reformers  utopian dreamers  and hard-pressed locals restructured not only the flood-stricken valleys  but also the nations relationship with its waterways  changes that continue to affect life along the rivers to this day.  A striking narrative of danger and adventureand the mix of heroism and generosity  greed and pettiness that always accompany disasterThe Thousand-Year Flood breathes new life into a fascinating yet little-remembered American story.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44959860555829,"sku":"ByrdShop_0226887162","price":31.13,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780226887166.jpg?v=1770376718","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-thousandyear-flood-the-ohiomississippi-disaster-of-1937","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}