Columbus devastated by flooding on Jan. 22, 1959
Think we have weird weather now? Flooding starting this week in 1959 killed 16 people statewide, forced 49,000 to evacuate their homes and caused extensive damage to homes, businesses, roads and bridges, according to the Ohio History Connection.
Across the state, up to 6 inches of rain fell on frozen ground, washing swollen streams and rivers over their banks and causing the worst flooding in Ohio since the big flood of 1913.
Columbus was the worst hit of Ohio's major cities, though no one died. Some streets in the city were under 3 feet of water, 100 homes were badly damaged and 3,200 people were evacuated to Red Cross shelters.
Some business owners in Newark took steps to prevent a future natural occurrence: The Rising River Association held annual dinners beginning the year after the flood to raise money for a totem pole to protect the city. An indigenous Alaskan artist hand-carved it from a utility pole and it went up in 1962.
Columbus, meanwhile, spent $140 million on the Franklinton Floodwall, which was designed to keep floodwaters from a swollen Scioto River.
The floodwall opened in March 2004, but only in recent years has the neighborhood west of Downtown begun to reemerge as a bustling artists area.