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Wednesday Marks 80th Anniversary of the Flood of 1937

Tuesday, 25 April 2017 15:42

The Flood of 1937 saw the river rise 23 feet in London and resulted in 5 deaths and destroyed over 1,100 homes.

Tomorrow marks the 80th anniversary of the largest flood ever recorded on the Thames River.

The Flood of 1937 saw the river rise 23 feet in London and resulted in 5 deaths and destroyed over 1,100 homes. 

Flooding on the Thames has been an issue since the European settlement and the flood of 37 brought home the need to protect people and property from flooding. In 1946 the Conservation Authority Act was established and the next year so was the Upper Thames Conservation Authority. 

The UTRCA was created with three guiding principles:

- Cost sharing between the Province and local municipalities,
- Conservation authority boundaries based upon geographical watersheds, not political boundaries, and
- Decisions made locally by a board of directors appointed by watershed municipalities.

The UTRCA’s primary responsibility is to protect life and property. Fanshawe Dam, completed in 1953, was the first flood control dam built in the Thames watershed. 

Today, the UTRCA has a network of more than 30 stream gauges for flood forecasting and warning, three major dams and a series of dykes, flood walls, and channels throughout the watershed for flood management. 

You can see photo's of the flood online here. 

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