27 Fore basin for various historical and recorded floods. No reasonable correlation of these stages can be made since zero elevations of many of the earlier gages are unknown, and where available they are often questionable. Frequently, gages have been shifted in location with little regard to the preservation of their zero-elevation relationship. Brief descriptions of and pertinent data on the major floods are presented hereafter. TABLE NO. 12.-Stages on Kentucky River for various floods Stage in feet at KENTUCKY RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES, KENTUCKY Frankfort. Date of flood peak Estimated stages on present gages above which flood damage begins.. Station Hazard Jackson Booneville 96892-44 Flood stage (feet) 38.5 31 11.8 25.0 37.0 23.5 22.3 30.0 21.0 30.5 35.0 Peak stage (feet) 38.3 26.2 40.2 (1) Peak flow Beatty- 96, 000 46.3 17.0 39.9 36.5 33.5 45.0 27.8 40. 1 34.8 43. 1 1 No estimate. 31. Flood of March 1913.-This flood was caused by an average depth of about 5.2 inches of rain over the basin during the period March 23-27. Perusal of the following tabulation indicates that flood conditions in general were not severe throughout the basin. 45. 4 31.7 Net flood Frankfort 3.5 3.3 37.5 37.0 36.5 37.0 42.0 37.9 25. 6 38.3 36.2 32.6 32.3 25.0 34.9 23. 5 30.5 33.5 47.46 35.66 32.4 Days above flood stage 5.0 2.0 32. Flood of January 1937.-This flood resulted from an average depth of over 13 inches of rain on the basin during the month of January, with practically 50 percent of the total precipitation occurring in the period January 20-25. As seen in the tabulation below, the flood was essentially of the "down river" type, the upstream tributaries delivering comparatively small volumes of water at peak stages below flood elevation. Frankfort Hazard. Frankfort. Jackson Hazard Booneville. Station Flood stage (feet) 31 30 31 20 Peak stage (feet) 47.46 29.8 26.0 13.0 26.2 Peak stage (feet) 1 No discharge data. 33. Flood of February 1939.-This flood was caused by an average T precipitation of about 5 inches on the basin, occurring in the perioder January 29-February 4, with the major part of the rainfall occurring tho on February 2-3. As the following tabulation indicates, the flood was most severe in the upper portions of the basin with stages greatly he dire in excess of flooding at such points as Beattyville and Jackson. transa To deme cle indir 35.66 45.4 i Peak flow /cubic feet per second 42. 1 30.0 40.2 119,000. 45,500 1 22,000 Net flood 89,000 109,000 47, 200 Peak flow Net flood (cubic feet volume per second); (inches) Days shore food stage 26 1 No discharge data. 34. Flood frequencies. The probable frequency of floods of vary ing magnitudes has been considered, and frequency curves were devel oped for Frankfort in the lower watershed and for Beattyville in the upper watershed. The records at these points, though none too re-es, fa red AME No. liable, provided the best available long-time discharge data. Details of the frequency studies will be found in appendix B. The results shown in table 17 of that appendix indicate that severe floods may be expected at Beattyville much more frequently than at Frankfort. Such floods may be expected at Beattyville at least once within 10 to 20 years, and at Frankfort at least once in 20 to 50 years, while minor to moderate floods at these two points may be expected about once in 5 years. IV. FLOOD DAMAGES 35. Extent and character of flooded area. Flooding occurs through out the Kentucky Basin. Because of acclivous flood plains, overbank stages usually flood only that portion of valley bottoms which are proximate to the stream channels. Thus the areas flooded are not extensive. The valleys are, in general, developed agriculturally, be cause they are the only areas, in many sections of the basin, adaptable to agricultural development. Thus, the limited agricultural areas are quite productive. Urban centers are relatively few, but a number of small villages and rural communities are located within the flood plains. The more important of these developments are Jackson and 1 Not printed. Hazard on the North Fork, Beattyville near the junction of the three forks, Clay City on Red River, and Frankfort on the main stream. These and many of the smaller communities or rural settlements along the streams are subject to severe flooding. However, damage to the latter is generally less intense due to their semiurban or rural nature. In addition to the agricultural and urban development of the flood plains, highways and railroads traverse the valleys and suffer considerable damage from major floods. Further descriptions of areas subject to flooding are contained in section VIII, flood problems. 36. Damages resulting from floods.-Damages suffered in the Kentucky River Basin as a result of floods include damage to physical property, depreciation of assets, loss of crops, livestock, business and livelihood. These losses, supplemented by other actual expenditures necessary to restore the flooded area to pre-flood conditions, constitute the direct damages. Damages such as loss of rents, increased costs of transacting business, increased costs of transportation as occasioned by detours and rerouting, supplementary police and fire protection, and emergency costs of caring for flood refugees, constitute the tangible indirect damages of a flood. Items such as loss of life, spread of disease, nervous shock, bereavement, cessation of school and church life, etc., are intangible damages by reason of their incapability of monetary evaluation. Studies were made of the floods causing damage in the basin during the periods for which gage records were available. In some instances reliable gage heights were available continuously since 1909 and in other cases only since 1926. Urban damages were obtained by flood-damage surveys for recent floods and from an analysis of the value of property flooded at various depths for earlier floods. Similarly the determination of damages suffered in urban areas was accomplished by an analysis of the flooded area with reference to cropland, type of crops and the location of highways, railways, bridges, farm buildings, etc. (see appendix C1 for details of methods employed). A summary of the flood damages obtained from the analysis is given below for the major floods of the Kentucky River. TABLE NO. 13.-Flood damages on the Kentucky River at damage centers and rural reaches TABLE NO. 13.-Flood damages on the Kentucky River at damage centers and January 1937 flood damage February 1939 flood damage Damage center or agricultural reach Beattyville, Ky. Irvine and Ravenna, Ky. Clay City, Ky. Reach No. 1 (lock No. 3 to Jessamine Dam site) Reach No. 2 (Jessamine Dam site to Beattyville, Ky.). Total. Beattyville. Direct Indirect Jackson. Irvine and Ravenna Hazard. $1,000 1,067, 100 110,800 Clay City Reach No. 1 (Jessamine Dam to lock No. 3). Total 1, 178, 900 $100 Damage center or reach Total $1,100 320, 100 1,387, 200 16, 600 336, 800 1,515, 700 Direct Indirect $70,800 1 6,600 37. Average annual damage. The average annual damage sustained at various localities in the basin was determined from the aggregate sum of the damages for all floods during the periods of record at these places. The average annual damages shown in the following tabulation for various damage centers and river reaches within the basin is the quotient of the sum of damages divided by the years of record. $8,500 400 TABLE NO. 14.-Average annual damage, Kentucky River Basin (includes direct and indirect damages) Total 1,000 7,600 27,800 3,900 31,700 64,900 6,500 71,400 56, 600 17,000 73,600 45, 100 6,800 51,900 117,900 17,700 135,600 392,700 61,800 454,500 Direct $79,300 3.400 Annual flood damage $8,600 49, 100 4,300 400 28.900 36,800 5,500 42,300 140,700 4.600 500 1 Does not represent the absolute total direct and indirect damages occurring annually in the basin bat approaches it fairly closely since it includes significant damages at important damage centers. V. EXISTING FLOOD-CONTROL IMPROVEMENTS 38. Existing Federal flood-control improvements.-No flood-control or protective works have been constructed by the Federal Government in the watershed drained by the Kentucky River and its tributaries. 39. Existing non-Federal flood-control improvements. The only floodcontrol structure of consequence now existing within the basin (exclud ing minor channel changes, cribbings, revetments, etc.) is a short barrier levee across the mouth of Jones Run on the right bank of the Kentucky River at Frankfort. The structure, an earth levee about 400 feet long with a crown width of 15 feet, is provided with a 9-foot discharge tunnel designed to bypass interior drainage during periods of low water. The floodgate on this tunnel was formerly a two-leaf miter gate of concrete construction and was designed for automatic The original structure was constructed by the city of operation. Frankfort about 20 years ago to protect the eastern part of the city from Kentucky River backwater. The automatic gate had not operated successfully since 1931, and recently it was replaced by the Federal Government without any local cooperation, at an estimated expenditure of approximately $10,000, under authority of section 9 of the Flood Control Act of June 15, 1936. The new floodgate is also a two-leaf mitering gate but is constructed of steel and designed for manual operation. Only the flood of 1937, maximum of record at Frankfort, has overtopped the barrier levee (elevation 507 feet above mean sea level, U. S. Geological Survey datum). A 15-foot roadway is carried atop the fill. VI. IMPROVEMENT DESIRED 40. Public hearings.-Joint public hearings were held in Frankfort and Jackson on November 6 and 7, 1939, respectively, by the district engineer and the director of the Central States Forest Experiment Station of the United States Department of Agriculture, in connection with the preliminary examination. Another public hearing was held by the district engineer at Frankfort on August 10, 1939, to develop the opinion of interested parties on the advisability of providing navigation facilities in a proposed flood-control reservoir (Jessamine, Camp Nelson Dam site) in the canalized portion of the river. At the hearings held at Frankfort some opposition to such a reservoir was expressed. However, little or no foundation was developed upon which to base such opposition. Opinions were expressed at the later Frankfort hearing to the effect that flood control should be accomplished on the tributary streams, thus permitting the present navigation facilities to be continued in use. Opposition to a reservoir on the South Fork above Booneville was also expressed, the contention being that it would inundate a large portion of the tillable agricultural area in that general vicinity. 41. Plan of improvement desired.-Representatives of various communities (Frankfort, Jackson, Hazard, and Clay City) indicated that they need and desire some form of flood protection. A cut-off to eliminate a long encircling bend in the Red River at Clay City was suggested by representatives of that community for the alleviation of its flood problem. A somewhat similar scheme for the protection of Jackson from North Fork floods was proposed by local residents. For the protection of Hazard, on the North Fork, the general proposal for storage reservoirs on tributary streams was advanced. No specific proposal for the protection of Frankfort was presented. 42. Local cooperation offered. No offers of local cooperation were tendered at the public hearings. Subsequent to the hearing at Jackson, however, this city has communicated its willingness to cooperate at least to the extent of furnishing the necessary rights-of-way for the cut-off at that point. Details concerning this assurance of local cooperation are contained in appendix H.1 VII. SURVEYS 43. Prior investigations. Other than those for the earlier development of navigation, the principal systematic field investigations prior to this report were made in connection with the Kentucky River "308" report (H. Doc. 85, 73d Cong., 1st sess.), submitted in 1931. In addition to field reconnaissance, these included strip topography of 1 Not printed. |