CENTRAL OHIO -- Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of a massive flood that claimed the lives of 16 Ohioans and forced 50,000 to leave their homes.
Storm Team 4's Ben Gelber GETS RIGHT TO THE POINT with a story about how six inches of rain falling on a frozen snow pack devastated parts of Central Ohio.
"It was unbelievable," Jerry Ashcraft said.
"We took a measurement, and the water was 54 inches in the building," he said.
In a few hours, placid Raccoon Creek surrounded Ashcraft's Newark business.
"That evening, when we were standing on the trestle, we couldn't visualize what was -- the damage that was being done at the time," Ashcraft said. "It was really a difficult time. Everybody pulled together."
Bill Clifford was 8 years old when school was dismissed early with a threat of historic flooding where the south and north forks of the Licking River met on Newark's South End.
"My dad came home from work that night, and he decided we were going sightseeing. We went across the National Drive Bridge on the South Fork, and right after we crossed it heading into downtown Newark they closed the bridge behind us," Clifford said.
Clifford said homes were underwater just west of downtown Newark, boats were rescuing people, and there were power outages all over. He said, "It was one giant mess."
Three years after the flood, Newark residents turned to an Alaskan Eskimo who carved a totem poll to ward off the evil water and prevent future floods.
The prayers and new levees built after the flood have spared Newark since.
Columbus also was hit hard in January 1959 as floodwaters three feet deep poured into hundreds of West Side homes, leading to the construction of the Franklinton floodwall.
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