The Flood Control Act of 1937 (FCA 1937) was an Act of the United States Congress signed into law by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

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 river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. 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 floodwall is a freestanding, permanent, engineered structure designed to prevent encroachment of floodwaters. Floodwalls are mainly used on locations where space is scarce, such as cities or where building levees or dikes (dykes) would in ...

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

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 an ...

s along Wolf River and Nonconnah Creek for protection of

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

, TN and modified the

Yazoo River The Yazoo River is a river primarily in the U.S. state of 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 Ame ...

project to substitute a combined reservoir floodway and levee plan. Section 2 authorized small clearing and snagging projects for

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

, 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

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

. * 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 , 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 waterway trans ...

, . The latter amended the Federal limit per project to $500,000.

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 American 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 Feb ...

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See also

References

External links