Floods in 1956 in the Esquatzel Coulee area in Washington

Abstract

As a result of heavy rains and snow falling on frozen ground, a flood occurred in the Esquatzel Coulee area on February 21-22, 1956, which, in Connell, was the greatest known since the town was settled in about 1888. Long-time residents of Connell report that the flood was much greater than the next highest ones, those of August 1907 and February 1949 Damage to municipal works, residential areas, and business property was estimated at more than a million dollars.Three other noteworthy floods occurred in 1956 that are included in this report but none was as destructive as the February flood.On January 4 a minor flood occurred that in general was confined to the main channel* The flood of May 8 was severe in two small areas, one near Lind and the other near Connell. Some farms and the town of Connell were damaged by flood water. On July 2 an intense rain just east of Connell resulted in a small lake forming downtown but damage was considered negligible.

Magnitude, frequency, and trends of floods at gaged and ungaged sites in Washington, based on data through water year 2014

“…Those reports also vary by various spatial levels of coverage from the Columbia Basin to state-wide studies, to individual drainage basins, and down to individual floods on a river. Reports for specific drainage basins include studies by Anderson (1948) on the floods of the Puyallup and Chehalis River Basins, Anderson and Bodhaine (1957) on the flood of 1956 in the Esquatzel Coulee area, Bailey (1960) on floods of the Nooksack River, Richardson (1965) on the effect of logging on flooding in the upper Green River Basin, and Mastin (1998) on flooding of South Prairie Creek. The Skagit River flood history was described in detail by Stewart and Bodhaine (1961).…”

Estimates of recharge from runoff at the Hanford Site, Washington

“…Substantial runoff at unspecified locations on the Hanford Site in February 1985 were attributed to a warm "chinook" wind, gusting to 43 miles per hour, which melted most of an 8-inch snowpack in less than one day (Gee and others, 1992). Floods of January 1974 in southern Washington were attributed to rapid melting of above-normal snowpacks, rainfall, and frozen soils (Longfield, 1974), and the floods of 1956 in the Esquatzel Coulee area (Anderson and Bodhaine, 1956) were attributed to heavy rain falling on frozen soils covered by varying amounts of snow.…”