Austin is certainly not short on sweltering, hot days, but it is also apparently a center for occasional earth-altering flash floods.

According to FloodSafety, a non-profit interactive media and activism group on floods (duh), Austin is considered “one of the most flood-prone regions in North America.”

Woo! We’re number one! We’re number one!

So while sitting in the toasty 101 degree temperatures last week, slipping in and out of the heat-stoked delusion that I might be a rooster, I asked myself a ponderous question.

“Self,” I asked, “what do you suppose was the wettest time in Austin?”

The answer is 1935-maybe.

For lack of sufficient historical weather data, we can’t definitively say that 1935 was the wettest year; however, the spring of 1935 was a wet one for Central Texas, featuring frequent showers that drenched the center of the state. Neighboring cities of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio didn’t fair much better. And one relatively normal day in June of that year made it one for the history books, when by the end, much of South Austin was underwater.

By 1935, routine high waters were something of which the people of Austin had become accustom. They had already replaced a dam swept away by flood waters in 1900, and 35 people died in a flash flood near Austin in 1915.

In 1935, the United States was knee-deep in the Great Depression, and Austin was every bit a victim as other American cities. But, in its own undying entrepreneurial way, Texas’ Capitol City had already begun to pull itself up by the boot straps. The Capitol building was far and away the most robust structure in the entire city, and dominated virtually the whole cityscape. From nearly all vantage points within view of downtown, the Capitol lurks in the background. Because of its huge presence, we are able to gain some perspective of exactly how much of Austin a) did not yet exist in 1935, but more importantly b) was destroyed as a result of the rising waters.

But in weird-Austin fashion, the flood of ’35 became sort of a twisted spectator sport. Not only did people rush to the chaos on Congress to snap personal photography, but reports had also come in that all sorts of random crap was just stone cold falling off the Austin Dam, and that the Dam was not in great shape itself. The Dam thus commanded a crowd of spectators, eager for the excitement. They would not be disappointed.

By the end of the evening, more than 22 inches of rain had poured down on Austin, nonstop, in less than four hours time. About 3,000 Austinites (roughly 16% of Austin’s 1935 population) were displaced from their homes as a result of the flood. Although many lost their homes, the reported death count was only 13 — relatively low for such a terrible tragedy.

Less than three years later, construction began on the Tom Miller Dam and Mansfield Dam, both of which still exist today.

How would Austin cope with a flood of this magnitude today?

Do you think Austin’s waterways are safe?

If 16% of Austinites lost their homes tomorrow, would New Orleans let us sleep on the couch?

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