Augusta Floods

The noise was like “two thundering torrents of water, sounding like rolling ocean surf” said Father L.G. Bashnall, S.J., of Sacred Heart Church, Augusta, Georgia, remembering the noon hour of the 1908 flood.[1] No official warnings of imminent flood were broadcast. Looking back, Father Bashnall realized the first warnings of danger came from the animals heading for higher ground. During the next 36 hours, Augusta would struggle against the forty foot crest of the river which left approximately twenty-five square miles under water.

In an effort to contain the damage to the upper canal banks, officials decided to turn the water from the first level of the canal into the second and third levels. The plan failed. “Within an hour or less the great volume of water thus turned loose was sweeping over everything not already submerged.”[2] Street car traffic ceased and cars were abandoned where they stood as operators and passengers sought Broad Street 1908 refuge from the deluge. Telegraph and telephone services became inoperable although the telegraph office managed to keep three lines to Atlanta in service. The city’s coal tar gas plant stayed in operation and as night fell, a ghostly lighting could be seen in widely scattered spots.

In mid-afternoon the high river collapsed the old South Carolina and Georgia Railroad Bridge at the foot of Centre Street. The bridge’s south wing washed into the brick yard on the South Carolina shore while the remainder went with the current to strike the Centre Street bridge and the "bridge gave way completely." The bulk of the debris from the Georgia side crashed into the pilings of Augusta’s lower wharf, severely weakening but not destroying the wharf. An eyewitness noted, “The wreckage of the two bridges on the Carolina shore is twisted and bent. What iron there was in them was snapped like reeds. The timbers are splintered as if struck by lightening.”[3]

The steamboat Two States was wrecked on debris hidden under the water, and sank within a half an hour only 25 feet from shore. Steamer Two States
Luckily all passengers and hands were evacuated, even “the plump Plymouth Rock pullet which cackled and fussed in chuckling tones at the indignity of having to leave in such disgraceful haste the boat where she had been raised and where she had spent all the days of her chicken life.”[4]

As the waters receded, the damage read like a repeat of 1888. The canal, and therefore the mills, were inoperable. Most of the breaks in the canal were confined to the first level above the pumping stations, the largest being 453 feet wide. Streets were washed out and the utilities would need extensive repairs. The mills remained the largest employer; the resumption of operations became the biggest priority.

Besides the flood damage, a series of fires commenced to burn Mc Daniels’ Lime and Builders Supply warehouse on the Carolina side of the river as well as fifty freight cars on the Southern Line in Hamburg. The Nixon business concerns were hit with a double blow; their hay feed and grain warehouse and the Nixon’s Grocery Company’s McIntosh and Fenwick Street warehouse were in flames. A large quantity of the Georgia Rail Road Company’s stored lumber was burnt as well. Probably the most serious fire occurred at the Georgia Iron Works. Hampered by the shortage of water, the fire department had to be satisfied with containing the blaze and stopping the fire from spreading.

This fire highlighted Augusta’s need for fresh water. The City Engineer, Nesbit Wingfield, reassured the public that the waterworks was in reasonable shape with sixty million gallons of water in the reservoir. Service delays were mainly due to broken water mains. Later reports allowed that the situation was more serious. Flood damaged sewer system. Augusta, Georgia, 1908. Superintendent Twiggs, of the city canal and waterworks department, pointed out that sixty million gallons was but a drop to an Augusta which used an average of 7,000,000 gallons of water a day. He urged all citizens to conserve water by cleaning up as much as possible with the water trapped in the cellars.

Various plans were designed to pump river water directly to the reservoir and assure the city of at least 5,000,000 gallons a day for a year. Mayor Dunbar reassured citizens that “ we have commenced to throw a dam across Rae’s Creek. This will throw the water into the canal and enable us to use the old pumping station. We also intend to install several six-inch pumps connecting them with the mains thereby augmenting the water supply. This should give us enough water for ordinary purposes for any length of time.”[5] To solve the immediate need, the Georgia Chemical Works and the Augusta Factory made their artesian wells available for public use.