The CHAIRMAN. You have had the highest stage at Muskogee. The CHAIRMAN. How about the stages at Van Buren? Mr. HENRY. The stages are the highest of record. The CHAIRMAN. You have had the highest stage of record by 9 feet at Muskogee; I believe that is approximately true, and at Van Buren and at Fort Smith; is that so? Mr. HENRY. Fort Smith and Van Buren are right together. The CHAIRMAN. Well, what about the stage at Little Rock as compared with 1927? Mr. HENRY. Somewhat lower. The CHAIRMAN. How much lower? Mr. HENRY. Three feet lower. The CHAIRMAN. What about on down the river at Pine Bluff? Mr. HENRY. At Pine Bluff it was a little higher than the 1927 record. I believe it was slightly higher than the 1927 record. I think at that time there were many levee breaks that didn't break this time. The CHAIRMAN. Well, the damage was materially less in that area. Mr. HENRY. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Then from Pine Bluff on down to the mouth of the Arkansas it is flattened out? Mr. HENRY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. When you get into the Mississippi it is flattened out? Mr. HENRY. Yes, sir; due to the synchronization of the streams. below Dardanelle. The United States Army furnished 18,817 enlisted men and 862 officers at a cost of about $11,336. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; they told us about that the first day. Mr. HENRY. Well, for one thing, the State does appreciate that, and that is indicative of the fact that there was an even greater damage at this time. I should like also to show the parallelization of commerce and industry. Here is a map I would like to leave with you, showing the interruption of traffic in our State. The CHAIRMAN. How many deaths were there in that flood? The CHAIRMAN. Where did they happen? Mr. HENRY. Four, I believe, were around Morrilton, and one perhaps around Pine Bluff. The CHAIRMAN. Anything else? Mr. HENRY. I believe that is about all. (The letter from the Honorable Homer M. Adkins, dated June 5, 1943, addressed to the Honorable Will M. Whittington, chairman, Committee on Flood Control, is as follows:) Hon. WILL M. WHITTINGTON, STATE OF ARKANSAS, Little Rock, June 5, 1943. Chairman, Committee on Flood Control, House of Representatives, As Governor of the State of Arkansas, representing the citizenship of my State, I want to express my sincere appreciation for your courtesy in inviting the attendance before your committee of State officials of this State, including myself. Circumstances prevent my appearance in person. This I deeply regret; however, I have delegated several representatives of our State departments, who are well acquainted with the subject matter under investigation, to be present at your committee hearing and to submit such data as you may determine to be of value to you. The bearer of this letter, Mr. John P. Morrow, is chairman of the Arkansas Flood Control Commission, and I have requested him to read this letter to your committee in order that all the members present will appreciate my intense interest in the work you are doing. Other members of the flood-control commission will be present at the hearing and the consultant for the corporation commission, Mr. J. C. Murray, and the engineer-director of the State planning board, Mr. L. A. Henry. All of these representatives of State agencies are placed at your service to furnish information as may be helpful to you. During the past several years your committee has served the Nation well in careful deliberation of the many ideas and plans for harnessing our streams and you have recommended and obtained favorable congressional action on national policy with respect to the control of floods on the destructive rivers and streams in various parts of the Nation. The Congress has authorized many sound projects and appropriated many millions of dollars which have been used to build many projects. At this point I wish to congratulate the committee, the Congress, and the Nation upon the success of works which have been built by the Army in the past. The record speaks for itself, and it portends great promise for the future. During the highest flood of record, or for that matter the greatest flood in more than 100 years, on the Arkansas River, the levees built by the Army engineers have not failed in one instance, while all except one levee, built by our improvement districts on the same river in Arkansas have given way. During these floods, the first of which reached Arkansas about May 11, and the second about May 21, there were 23 improvement district and privately built levees broken or destroyed, causing the inundation of over 400,000 acres of fertile lands within the Arkansas River Valley between Fort Smith and Pine Bluff in Arkansas. During about this same period of time, floods on the White and Black Rivers in Missouri and Arkansas reached record heights and broke or destroyed about 10 levees along those rivers, all of which levees were built by local districts. Along these rivers the levees constructed by Army engineers did not fail. Inundated lands in Arkansas in the White River Valley total more than 400,000 acres. More than 800,000 acres of the State's most productive land, a very large percentage of which was cropland, already planted to crops, has thus been flooded and complete destruction to all crops has resulted. At least five human lives have been lost by drownings. Destruction to urban properties, industry, and commerce has reached great magnitude. Commerce in many areas has been paralyzed. The pipe lines of municipal water works at Fort Smith and Camp Robinson were broken. The health and comfort of civilians in Fort Smith and the soldiers at Camp Chaffee and Camp Robinson was thus seriously affected. But for the Army's ability to do "the impossible immediately." this damage would have been much more serious. Army personnel cooperating with local officials twice reestablished water service in Fort Smith before reserve water supplies were exhausted. The oil pipe line carrying vital oil from Texas to the East was broken near Little Rock by the raging Arkansas. This service also was restored within a few days by unbelievable effort and through fine cooperation. The floods in Arkansas are even now emptying into the Mississippi and only fragmentary information as to total losses is yet available. Such dependable information as is now available will be placed at your committee's disposal by others. I wish to comment, however, on the enormity of this recent flood. statements are made from first-hand observations as I traveled through most all areas affected. My The greatest losses of all have been the crops which will be sorely needed to feed our armed forces. This may reach the staggering sum of $10,000,000 in the State. The waters will not recede early enough to make replanting possible in all areas. There has been greater damage to lands by erosion and gulleying because of the great velocity of the rivers of these extreme stages. Later surveys will be necessary to establish these losses. Farm improvements such as homes, barns, and other accessories have been great. Losses to cities, industrial properties, railroads, highways, and public utilities have been enormous. Production of vital materials was interrupted for 2 weeks and commerce was stopped in many sections for a period of a few days to 2 weeks. With the manpower situation as it is, it is unlikely that this production and commerce can be gained back in subsequent weeks. The highways, Federal and State, were blocked for from 1 to 30 days, and on United States Highway 64 an estimated 75 days. These roads normally care for the use of 200 to 6,000 vehicles daily. There were 76 places in the State where the State and Federal highways were blocked. There were several times as many locations on county roads with important traffic in over 30 counties. There has been a bright side to this flood situation. How Army personnel and civilians have cooperated to promptly meet the emergencies is remarkable. All forces of the county and State defense councils went into action. The civil air patrol, the State guard, and State police, the American Red Cross, and the welfare department, the Federal Departments of Agriculture, Public Roads, and many others, accepted their full responsibility. All these could not have been fully effective but for the prompt action of the Army. The Eighth Service Command went the limit in providing assistance. More than 18,000 of Army personnel were put in action at critical points. These soldiers remained at duty fighting the flood with the same fervor as their buddies are fighting our enemies abroad. Much valuable property and many lives were saved by the heroic work of Army personnel. Following this brief statement of conditions so recently faced by our citizens, I desire to commend to your committee's consideration the pleas of all Arkansas people that Congress take every possible action, consistent with the war effort, to bring a full measure of flood protection to the valleys of the Arkansas, White, Black, Ouachita, Red, and Mississippi Rivers. This ever-recurring hazard with which our people live is sapping their lives of energy which the Nation sorely needs. You have already established the policy and you have authorized many projects of the comprehensive flood-control plan for these valleys, and I do not need to argue that point. We have great confidence in the ability of the Army engineers to make detail plans and to construct such works. At this time I urge that all the necessary planning detail be done by those excellent engineers not directly engaged in military work, in order that actual construction of reservoirs and adequate levees may begin the earliest possible moment, and in the meantime may Nature be kind to us and withhold the excessive rainstroms which cause the kind of floods we have just experienced. Respectfully submitted. HOMER M. ADKINS, Governor. (Also submitted for the record are the following tabulations :) Sections of Arkansas highways that were made impassible by wash-outs or overflows during 1943 floods and length of time they were out of service UNITED STATES NUMBERED HIGHWAYS |