Indiana and the Great Flood of 1913 By Nancy M. Germano

Abstract

The great flood of 1913 ravaged much of the Midwest, including Indiana, where it killed around two hundred people and inflicted $20 million in damage. Despite its reach, the disaster has slipped through the historical cracks, lost between the more famous 1882–84 flood cycle and the devastating 1927 Mississippi River inundation. Historian Nancy Germano exhumes this forgotten crisis, using it as an important reminder of humankind’s often-foolish impositions on environmentally sensitive lands. Her Indiana and the Great Flood of 1913 should please devotees of Hoosier history seeking a concise overview of this disaster.