Based on rainfall amounts, major flooding was localized in an area called the Bohemian Alps of Saunders and Butler counties. According to the Lower Platte North Natural Resources District, 8.5 inches of rain fell at Prague and 6.8 inches in Wahoo. Through additional research, I discovered rainfall amounts in and out of the flooded area were: 14 inches at David City and Garrison, 10 inches at Bruno, 6 inches north of Polk, and 4 inches at Aurora.

In addition to these eye-popping rainfall amounts, unofficial reports in the Bruno and Abie area were 11 inches found in livestock tanks, and a whopping 16 inches from a stock tank near Linwood. Since we know that water can only flow downhill, I checked gauges and historic records to see what stories the various streams emanating from Bohemian Alps would tell me.

Skull Creek flows north out of the Alps and empties into the Platte River near Linwood. Bruno and Abie are situated on a tributary of Skull Creek, and both communities recorded significant flood damage. On the morning of June 25, a truck from the Rural Electric Administration was dispatched from David City to Bruno. This specific truck was sent because it had extra large tires and was higher off the ground. At Bruno, the driver found people huddled in their attics, waiting to be rescued.

Downstream of Abie, the tributary meets the main channel of Skull Creek. Although there is no stream gauge on the creek in this area, the volume of water coming out of the Skull Creek "chute" and into the Platte River valley toward Linwood would have been unimaginable. In Linwood there was one death, water was 8 feet deep in parts of town, and homes were pushed off their foundations. All told, 72 of its 77 homes were damaged with 65 of these listed as "major" damage. Rumor has it that one of the more popular post-flood attractions in Linwood was the car that had been "deposited" in a tree. Assistance was slow to reach Linwood because telephone lines had been destroyed - along with the volunteer fire department building. Once organized, 25 prisoners from the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln helped with the clean-up.

Cottonwood Creek flows southeast from the Butler-Saunders County line, goes on the west side of Prague, then turns east to flow on the south side of Malmo before emptying into Wahoo Creek south of Wahoo. Two of my mother's relatives lived on adjacent farms in the Malmo area. The story is that my uncle went out in the morning to look at the rain gauge and saw it had registered 5 inches. On his normal daily farm duties, he drove to Malmo, and when he came over the hill overlooking town he could not believe his eyes at the amount of water in Cottonwood Creek. To hear him tell the tale, Cottonwood Creek was 2 miles wide, although he says it may have only been 1½ miles wide. After taking in the scene for a bit, he drove back to the farm and noticed his rain gauge had only a 5-inch capacity and that a stock tank had a foot of water in it.

The story of my mother's other relative is not so nice. The family was dairy farmers south of Malmo. The big flood of 1959 on Cottonwood Creek swept away their car and had flooded their house badly enough that they had to stay with relatives in Malmo until the house was livable again. They were told that the 1959 flood was one that "would only happen once every hundred years," so when the 1963 flood came roaring through, they were surprised - but practiced on what to do.

They watched from the second story of their house as the rising tide took away their pig houses and all the pigs inside. My uncle waded through the waist-deep water to cut the fences so the cows could escape to higher ground. But when the house started to shudder under the force of the flood water, they decided to abandon it and walk through the fields to their neighbor. The story is told of how distressed the mother was after she dropped her young daughter in a waist-deep flood torrent while evacuating the house. Fortunately, she was able to rescue her.

Sand Creek drains most of the area between Cottonwood Creek and the Platte River bluff line. It flows mostly east before curving to flow southeast west of Colon, then straight south on the east side of Wahoo before joining Wahoo Creek. Wanahoo Park on Sand Creek east of Wahoo was a popular gathering place for area residents in the 1920s and 30s. The main attraction was an ornate dance hall on the human-made "Dance Island." The moat surrounding the island was formed by diverting water from Sand Creek with a water wheel. In a rowboat in this moat was where my grandfather proposed to my grandmother. The park also had a huge swimming pool, but the flood of 1963 completely silted in the moat and swimming pool, and virtually destroyed the dance hall. With rebuilding infeasible, Wanahoo Park and Dance Island became relics of the past. The name Wanahoo Park is being revived with the construction of Lake Wanahoo, which will dam Sand Creek north of Wahoo.

Through its tributaries and branches, Wahoo Creek drains much of western and southern Saunders County. With Cottonwood Creek flowing in west of Wahoo, it should be no surprise that substantial damage was reported there.

At Wahoo, water was 6 feet over Highway 77, 50 families were evacuated, 40 homes and 10 businesses were damaged, and the County Fairgrounds and athletic fields were flooded. The municipal power and water plant was sandbagged, and motor traffic in and out of Wahoo was halted in every direction. Trains were also stopped until it could be determined whether bridges crossing streams were functional. The only reported damage amount of $113,000 ($766,000 in 2007 dollars) was almost certainly low and perhaps given for only public property damage. Two civil defense boats from Omaha, along with airboats were used in the search and rescue operation, and houses on South Elm Street were moved from their foundations. Further downstream, Sand Creek meets Wahoo Creek and there is a stream gauge for Wahoo Creek at Ithaca. The gauge recorded the second highest crest of record at 22.93 feet (second only to the 1959 record crest of 23.22 feet and may have been the highest if the gauge had not washed away!), and USGS data for this flood lists discharge at an astounding record of 77,400 cubic feet per second.

Oak Creek is the first watershed south of Skull Creek, but Oak Creek flows south past the west side of the Lincoln Municipal Airport before meeting Salt Creek near the State Fair fairgrounds. On North Oak Creek, Valparaiso reported 2 feet of water in some parts of town and was semi-isolated as bridges had been washed out on most of the roads. South of Valparaiso, three people were swept away to their deaths - two of them were watching the flood water from Highway 79 when a wall of water took them away, and the third tried to drive through water in the same vicinity. Raymond is situated where North Oak Creek meets Oak Creek from the west and flooding there was the worst since the flood of 1908. It was believed to be a 100-year flood at Raymond as much of the town was flooded and there were some evacuations.

That was all for streams which have their headwaters in the Bohemian Alps. The flooding of 1963, however, extended much further than just Butler and Saunders counties.

Everything west of the Bohemian Alps, roughly in a line connecting David City, Brainard, Dwight and Bee, drains to the west and into the Big Blue River watershed. Starting with reports in the north and working downstream, the first news was of many bridges out and one person swept away at Staplehurst. In Ulysses, the Big Blue was 10 feet over flood stage and there were several rescues made there - one including a family with 5 feet of water in the house.

A crest of 21.81 feet on June 25 still rates as the ninth highest crest of record at Seward. Also in Seward, a discharge of 20,200 cubic feet per second on Plum Creek exceeded the 500-year flood discharge. Further downstream at Crete, water backed up from Walnut Creek 4 feet deep in some yards on the north side of town since the Big Blue was so high. Water was 3 feet deep in DeWitt, and every block had water as Turkey and Swan creeks also flooded. In Beatrice, 20 families were evacuated and West Court Street and Chautauqua Park were both closed as the Big Blue came out of its banks. (Note: both areas have now been mostly cleared through floodplain buyouts.)

Salt Creek drains the vast majority of Lancaster County before it flows through Lincoln on its way to the Platte River at Ashland. Right before it flows into Salt Creek, Hickman Branch caused $98,000 in flood damage in Hickman. In Lincoln, one man was killed and bridges were lost on Salt Creek and Dead Man's Run. In Greenwood, the eighth highest crest of record at 21.46 feet dates to June 24, 1963. In Ashland, there were three deaths, and the 87,000 cubic feet per second discharge equaled a 75-year flood event. The ninth highest crest of record at 14.82 feet on Salt Creek at Ashland was set on June 25.

David City and Brainard are both situated toward the top of the watershed and do not have a riverine flood threat. However, the sheer amount and intensity of rain caused problems. All over David City, basement flooding was reported from a few inches to 7 feet, and several basements collapsed from water pressure. Highway 15 was closed south of Aquinas High School, and Highways 64 and 81 both had water across them in several places. The water backing up into City Park lakes was released when the Burlington Northern Railroad bridge washed out. One report stated that the entire area between David City and Ulysses was under water.

A former coworker who was in high school during the '63 flood said that even though Brainard is situated at the high point between watersheds, there were flooded basements and collapsed basement walls in town. The flooding occurred largely because the railroad was in the process of abandoning its tracks, and railroad ties and other related debris clogged a culvert opening. Once blocked, several streets in town were quickly flooded. As soon as the debris was removed, however, the streets were able to drain and the flooding subsided.

Gov. Frank B. Morrison declared seven counties disaster areas on June 27, which opened up the possibility of low-interest federal Small Business Administration loans to flood victims. On July 18, President John F. Kennedy declared eight southeast Nebraska counties federal disaster areas with damage totals exceeding $10 million ($67.8 million in 2007 dollars) in private and $3 million ($20.3 million in '07) in public losses. In the Wahoo Creek basin alone, private damage exceeded $1.5 million ($10.2 million).

In Saunders County, 32 bridges were lost and 131 more needed repair. The Saunders County highway engineer estimated damage to be $653,700 with an additional $70,000 for new gravel. Also in Saunders County, 150 sections, or 96,000 acres, were flooded. In Butler County, 100 bridges were either damaged or destroyed. In Lancaster County, 8 to 10 bridges were lost with an estimated $100,000 repair bill. In one reach, four bridges in a row were lost on Salt Creek near Kramer, but bridges were also lost from communities as far apart as Raymond, Agnew and Waverly. In Lincoln, the bridge on Cornhusker Highway crossing Dead Man's Run (east of 27th Street) was lost. All over the flooded region, there were reports of grain bins "popping" from having the wet grain inside them expand beyond the bins' capacity to hold it.

The swirling water caused multiple millions in flood damage and took several lives. Still, out of every tragedy comes opportunity, lessons learned and ways to prevent tragedy from happening again. Through the assistance of the Soil and Water Conservation Service, my grandfather, Archie McMaster, helped to coordinate the incorporation of seven watershed districts in the area flooded in 1963. Each watershed district was charged with ways to better protect natural resources within its boundary, and flood control was one activity used to accomplish this. These districts were folded into the existing Natural Resources Districts framework in 1972, and NRDs performed similar services but also completed watershed studies. For example, the Skull Creek watershed study identified 22 different dam sites, but recommended the alternatives which identified 11 of them as the preferred plan to reduce flooding.

Some projects have been built. Branched Oak Lake, constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Oak Creek and completed in 1967, is the largest of the Corps' Salt Valley Projects and is now operated as a State Park. In 1988, Czechland Lake was built by the Lower Platte North NRD on a tributary to Cottonwood Creek just west of Highway 79 near Prague. The Lower Platte North NRD also constructed Homestead Lake, completed in 2001, on a tributary of Skull Creek above Abie. There have been numerous other smaller upland dams that have been constructed by various levels of government.

Entire communities changed as a result of this flood. The landscape changed in Linwood as many residents chose to rebuild in nearby Schuyler. Wanahoo Park and Dance Island disappeared, leaving only memories behind. And in case you are wondering whatever happened to my relatives who were once wading through waist-deep flood water in Malmo in 1963, they decided to leave their rented farm and move to Villisca, Iowa. They now farm 1,300 acres and say that, despite being torn from their familial roots, "It was the best thing we ever did."

With such widespread and severe flooding, stories of the flood of 1963, similar to the ones told by my family, are likely being passed down to future generations all across eastern Nebraska.

Please Note: As witnessed by my relatives who experienced major flood events in 1959 and again in 1963, the term "100-year flood" can be misleading. As a result, it is slowly being removed from the floodplain management lexicon. Even though it refers to the probability of a flood happening once every 100 years, many times people who have been flooded think it cannot happen again for another 100 years. If you watched news reports from the major flooding in Iowa earlier this year, you may have heard that people thought they would not be flooded again for a long time since the big floods of 1993 (a 250-year flood or greater in places) happened only 15 years ago. A "100-year flood" really means it has a 1 percent probability of occurring every year - hence, the changing terminology from "100-year flood" to "1 percent chance annual flood."

History of Linwood
NOAA Stream Gages, eastern Nebraska
Homestead Lake
Czechland Lake
Lake Wanahoo
Dance Island history
Lincoln Star
Butler County Banner Press
Wahoo Newspaper

Steve McMaster is a Natural Resources Planner Coordinator with the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources' Floodplain Management Section.