You asked if (1) there is a map of the areas of Windsor flooded during the flood of 1938, (2) cars and houses floated over the Rainbow Dam in 1938, and (3) the Farmington River Bridge on Route 75 was closed due to possible damage from the flood and debris.

This is a follow up to OLR Report 2005-R-0704, Maintenance of Farmington River Levees and the Rainbow Reservoir, dated October 5, 2005.

SUMMARY

Below, we provide a description of the areas of Windsor flooded from the rains and hurricane in 1938 taken from a September 23, 1938 Windsor Herald article, which we found in the Windsor Historical Society’s (WHS) library collection. The Herald reported that between Saturday, September 17, 1938 and Wednesday, September 21, 1938 (the day of the hurricane), 11. 47 inches of rain fell.

Attached is a copy of a flood map of the Farmington and Connecticut Rivers in Windsor from a March 1971 publication (from the WHS library) entitled, “Flood Plain Information,” which was prepared for Windsor by the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers and is based on 300 years of area flood data at the time, including the floods of 1936, 1938, and 1955. We have also attached copies of photos from the WHS’ library’s photo files on Windsor floods, which include the flood of 1938 (the original photos are excellent, although some are lacking identifying information).

We did not find any descriptions of houses and cars floating over the dam during the flooding of 1938 or about the bridge on Route 75; the focus on losses in the local newspapers (including the Windsor Booster), was on the destruction of trees, particularly on the town green.

THE FLOOD OF 1938

“Flood Recedes Fast After Deluging Windsor Area Here”

From the Windsor Herald, Friday, September 23, 1938:

Disturbing effects of the heavy rain fall appeared in the Farmington River the first of the week, when the stream went over its banks and flooded Pleasant Street. As the heavy rains continued, the entire section between the river and the New Haven Railroad gradually went under water. Within a few hours Palisado Avenue was closed to traffic, as was Loomis Avenue, and not long afterward, Wilson Avenue and Meadow Road in Wilson. Again, as in the Great Flood two years ago, the extensive market farms of Rand and Christensen, along with other vegetable growers in the Wilson section, were flooded.

In Poquonock, the Farmington overflowed its banks at lower Tunxis Street.

Motor traffic between Windsor and Hartford was completely blocked at the lower end of Windsor Avenue. Trolley service was interrupted, and was entirely checked by the hurricane. Buses were substituted by the Connecticut Company on Friday and schedules were resumed insofar as was possible by detouring through Bloomfield and Blue Hills Avenue. That route was used also by Windsor drivers of motor cars, and it was not until Sunday morning that the direct route into Hartford was again opened to traffic.

Residents of Palisado Avenue were cut off from access to Windsor Centre, as during the 1936 flood. A fleet of small boats, equipped with outboard motors, ferried them back and forth between Broad Street and the other side of the Farmington. The flood waters spread under the New Haven Tracks, coming at one time within about 18 inches of the high mark set by the flood two years ago.

JH: dw