Iowa's Deadliest Flood--The Rockdale Flood of July 4, 1876

Antique woodcut engraving titled “Iowa-The Disastrous Flood at Rockdale on the Night of July 4th-5th.  Scene Near the Dam the Morning After the Storm.”  From a Sketch by A. Simplot.  This photo was published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on July 29, 1876.

Rockdale, Iowa is now a community located entirely within the City of Dubuque—on the town’s southern side.  In 1876 Rockdale was a village located between Dubuque and Key West, Iowa.  It was also divided by a ravine through which Catfish Creek flowed toward the Mississippi River around two miles downstream.  Rockdale was located along the main vehicle route going south of Dubuque.  It was also home to one of the area’s first flour mills.

Although the Rockdale flood affected a very small geographic area, it is the deadliest known flood in Iowa’s history.

The Rockdale flood occurred on July 4, 1876 when heavy rain caused Catfish Creek to swell and break the dam upstream of town at the Rockdale Mill.  The resulting wall of water was around 20 feet deep and hundreds of feet wide as it swept into town.  Around 40 people—nearly every person in town—perished in the flood.  The few survivors were found in treetops where the floodwaters had swept them.  Only two buildings were left standing—the Rockdale Mill and one house.  The village lost a saloon, hotel, two stores, a Post Office, several houses and a blacksmith shop.  One of the most amazing stories of survival involves Charles Thimmesch, a barkeeper.  After warning others about the flood he climbed to the roof of the Post Office.  He eventually swam naked to higher ground with his money clenched in his teeth.

The village never recovered after the flood.  Eventually U.S. Highways 151 and 61 were built and bypassed the area.

Fast forwarding to the present, such loss of human life would be likely be less or even non-existent for various reasons.  The National Weather Service uses many different tools to monitor, anticipate and warn of flash flooding in real time, 24x7, every day of the year.  Additional tools are being developed and tested.  And just as important as those tools are the relationships the NWS has with its partners including emergency management, the media and many diverse local, state and Federal agencies.  The NWS relies on its partners such as emergency management and the media to help distribute timely, important and accurate information whenever flooding or any other hazardous weather threatens lives and property.  The NWS also relies on those same partners -- as well as its storm spotters -- for timely, "boots on the ground" information and updates about the hazardous conditions.  The process of monitoring for -- and warning of -- hazardous weather is truly a team effort.  A lot of activity goes on behind the scenes to help ensure people's safety before, during and after hazardous weather events.

For additional information on the Rockdale Flood of July 4, 1876, see:

• Encyclopedia Dubuque Web article—“Rockdale Flood.”  https://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=ROCKDALE_FLOOD .
• IAGenWeb Web article—“Rockdale Flood-Thirty-Nine Drowned.”  https://iagenweb.org/boards/dubuque/documents/index.cgi?read=209037 .
• Wikipedia Web article—“Rockdale, Iowa.”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockdale,_Iowa .  See the section titled “The Rockdale Flood.”

For related information, read "Iowa's Top Five Floods", a report written by the National Weather Service in Des Moines, Iowa.  Link: https://www.crh.noaa.gov/Image/dmx/hydro/HistoricalIowaFloods_Top5.pdf .

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