Wednesday, August 23, 1933

Olive and Ruby and Aunt Minnie stopped by for Mother and I, and we went up to Nellie's. Went down to Mart's in the p.m.

Flood of August 23, 1933 - Washington, D.C.
Washington Monument from south Ellipse
Photographer: Theodor Horydczak (1890-1971)

The Hurricane of August 23, 1933 is best known for its huge tidal surge
up the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, producing 50-mph winds,
dropping 6.18 inches of rain and causing extensive flooding.

Death rode the wind and the water. A train crossing the Anacostia River was 
swept off its tracks by the floodwaters, killing ten people. In addition, four people
drowned in their cars on the Washington-Baltimore Road when the Little
Patuxent River went over its banks. An amusement park in Colonial Beach,
 located on the Potomac River, was completely swept away. In Alexandria,
the Torpedo Factory and the Ford Motor Company were under six feet of water.
The Washington-Richmond Highway was submerged under ten feet
of water near Alexandria, Virginia, and Bolling Air Force Base was inundated
by water up to five feet deep. A total of eighteen fatalities were recorded
in the Washington area as a result of the storm.

To some peoples' dismay, no politicians were injured.