1913 Dayton Flood Lesson Plan for High School Math and Science Classes. Developed by: Christina O Malley and Kurtz Miller

Transcription

1 1913 Dayton Flood Lesson Plan for High School Math and Science Classes Developed by: Christina O Malley and Kurtz Miller 2012 This unit was developed at the Miami Valley Career Technical Center in conjunction with the University of Dayton School of Education and Allied Professions. Correspondence (including requests for answer keys) should be addressed to omalley.47@osu.edu. The authors give permission for the reproduction of this material, in whole or in part, for educational purposes.

2 Unit Objectives: Dayton Flood Familiarize students with the causes and effects of the Dayton Flood. Recognize the importance of the flood, in financial and environmental terms. Determine if the response of the public was appropriate for the threat that was made known by the Dayton Flood. Earth s Features/composition Distinguish between examples of constructive and destructive processes. Identify examples of landforms, or features resulting from constructive and destructive forces. Weathering and Erosion Discriminate between examples of weathering, soil formation, and erosion. Select examples of why or how erosion could happen or be prevented.

3 Unit Plan: (We tested this unit in a 40 minute class period, so these are simply suggestions) Day 1 & 2: Introduce the Dayton Flood: Student Research and Presentations Handout Great Miami River Watershed Disaster Project Day 3 & 4: Analysis of the Upper Great Miami River Watershed Handout Dayton Flood Project Case Study Handout Surface Water Hydrology of the Dayton Region Day 5 & 6: Flood Prevention in the Dayton Region and Miami Valley Day 7: Review Handout Building the Hoover Dam Handout Holding Back Water Handout Erosion and Flooding Quiz Review Day 8: Assessment Use Erosion and Flooding Quiz to assess student s understanding of weathering, erosion, and the Dayton Flood. Notes for Teachers: Please contact the authors for answer keys. This prohibits students from finding them freely. Many of these assignments intend for students to use the internet in the classroom. If this is not possible for you, there may be a significant amount of material that you will need to provide to your students in the classroom. One solution could be to have students work in groups and provide them with binders or folders to share that compile all the information, or use laminated sheets that you can use through the day in multiple periods. These lessons were developed in a science classroom, but are math-heavy. Some students may be able to create interesting graphs of the discharge of the Miami River during the flood if it is suggested to them. If you are planning ahead, you can work with other teachers in your building to develop a rich unit that incorporates Science, Math, History, and English in studying the Dayton Flood. An excellent book we recommend is A Time of Terror by Alan Eckert.

4 Great Miami River Watershed Disaster Project Create a presentation (5 minutes in length) that provides the following information and analysis: 1. Create a timeline of the order of events that were important to the Dayton Flood of Include the events of the storm that produced the flooding, discuss the changes in the soil that kept it from absorbing the precipitation (and increasing runoff), and the immediate effect of the flood on the Dayton Region. 2. Include statistics about the severity of the flood, and its impact on life and property in the Dayton region. 3. How did Dayton respond to the flood? What was the immediate response? What did the citizens of Dayton resolve after the flood? 4. Was there an effect after the flood, regarding watershed management? What agencies were created in response to the flood? Your presentation should include visual components, such as PowerPoint. Each group will consult with me on Friday, and a group with complete information will be chosen to give a presentation to the class on Monday. (Groups suggesting a creative twist on the presentation of the information may be favored. Upon completion of the presentation that group s participating members will receive 10% extra credit applied to the assignment of their choice. The presentation is due at the start of class Monday, whether or not you are presenting. If you have materials that need to be printed, they can be printed through the end of class Friday in the classroom computer we will not spend time Monday at the printer before beginning the next portion of our study of the Great Miami River Watershed and the Dayton Flood of 1913.

5 Resources for Lesson: Friends of the Great Miami River, Great Miami River Aquifer map at Friends of the Great Miami River, Great Miami River Drainage Basin map at Rogers, J. David, 1913 Dayton Flood and the Birth of Modern Flood Control Engineering in the United States. Bell, Trudy E. Taking Engineering By Storm. Accessible at Dayton History Books Online Dayton Metro Library 1913 Flood Postcards and Photos: and Street Map of the City of Dayton: Miami Conservancy District, Resources and Publications ater+river&pagesize=10&submit=search&pg=2 Suburbia web site. 1850s Dayton Map Ohio State. Great Miami and Loramie Creek Watershed Map:

6 Dayton Flood Project Case Study Read J. David Roger s report titled 1913 Dayton Flood and the Birth of Modern Flood Control Engineering in the United States at flood-updated.pdf about the Great Miami River Watershed/Basin, as well as the information from the Miami Conservancy District that follows the data sheets to answer the following questions about the Great Dayton Flood. Additional information about the flood mitigation systems around the city will help us predict if a flood of this magnitude is likely to occur again.

7 Name: period: The Flood of 1913 What led to the Great Dayton Flood of 1913? How much area does the Great Miami River Basin cover? (that is, what is the area of the Great Miami River watershed?) How much of the watershed is upstream of Dayton? (How much is in the Upper Great Miami River Basin ). If 9-11 inches fell during the storms leading to the flood, what was the volume of water that fell in the watershed during the Great Dayton Flood? Use units of cubic feet. If the runoff in the watershed was 90%, how much water was headed towards Dayton in the time immediately following the flood? How many square miles of downtown Dayton was covered in water? Calculate the volume of water in the city center. Using your data, calculate the average depth of water in the flooded downtown area. How did you determine this estimate?

8 Use this sheet to keep track of all your data and calculations. Don t forget to give your units! Area of Great Miami River Basin: Area of Mad River Basin: Area of Sillwater River Basin: Area of Upper Great Miami River Basin: Area of Twin Creek Basin: Area of Seven Mile Creek Basin: Area of Lower Great Miami River Basin: Volume of water that fell in the Upper Great Miami River Basin: (Show work here) Volume of runoff in the Great Miami River Basin: Area (mi 2 ) of Downtown Dayton that was flooded: Average depth of water in flooded Downtown Dayton:

9 Using concepts we ve learned in the past few weeks, explain how if only 9-11 inches fell on the Upper Great Miami River Basin, why there was there more than 20 feet of standing water in some places downtown. Where did the water come from? Where would rainwater normally go? Why didn t it? Could the population have done anything more to prevent disaster?

10 Surface Water Hydrology of the Dayton Region Excerpts from the Miami Conservancy District s report on the Dayton Flood of 1913 Streams The Great Miami River drains the largest area in the basin (5,330 mi 2 ) and includes the Upper Great Miami River Basin (2,480 mi 2 ), the Lower Great Miami River Basin (1,390 mi 2 ), and the Whitewater River Basin (1,460 mi 2 ) (Seaber and others, 1987). The Little Miami River drains an area of 1,757 mi 2 (Cross, 1967). The remainder of the study unit consists of several small streams that are direct tributaries of the Ohio River in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio. The most important of these streams is Mill Creek which drains an area of 164 mi 2 (Cross, 1967). Great Miami River Basin Indian Lake in Logan County, Ohio marks the headwaters of the Great Miami River. Headwater streams are located in Darke, Shelby, and Logan Counties in Ohio. The Great Miami River and its tributaries drain the largest cities in the study unit: Springfield, Dayton and Hamilton, Ohio. Significant tributaries in the upper Great Miami basin are the Stillwater River (676 mi 2) and the Mad River (657 mi 2 ) (Cross, 1967). Both the Stillwater and Mad Rivers join the Great Miami River near downtown Dayton in Montgomery County, Ohio. Before the construction of flood control dams in the Dayton area, the valley downstream of the confluence was particularly subject to flooding. Major tributaries in the Lower Great Miami Basin include Twin Creek (316 mi 2 ) and Sevenmile (137 mi 2 ). These tributaries join the Great Miami River in Warren and Butler Counties, Ohio, respectively. The Great Miami joins the Ohio River west of Cincinnati in Hamilton County, Ohio.

11 In 1922, five flood control dams were completed in the Miami Valley: Lockington Dam, Germantown Dam, Huffman Dam, Taylorsville Dam, and Englewood Dam. The dams were constructed after the 1913 floods by the Miami Conservancy District and were designed such that the spillways permit water to pass through at or below channel capacity (Spieker, 1961). The storage reservoirs behind the dams are normally dry, but capture excess water during flood events. The reservoirs were designed to control floods forty percent greater than the historic flood of 1913, the worst in the region. Capacity (acre-ft) Reservoir Stream Surface Normal Maximum Area (acre) Taylorsville Reservoir Great Miami River 186, ,000 11,000 Indian Lake Great Miami River 45,900 69,900 5,800 Englewood Reservoir Stillwater River 312, ,000 7,900 Huffman Reservoir Mad River 167, ,000 9,180 Lockington Reservoir Loramie Creek 70, ,000 4,020 The reservoirs in the table above were designed to retain water during flood events in the Upper Miami River Basin. View a map of the Miami Conservancy District dams and levees at View a map of the extent of the Dayton Flood at

12 Name: period: Building the Hoover Dam Name the 5 dams that were built in the Upper Great Miami River Valley to slow the flow of water in the watershed when there was more rain than could be accommodated in the river channel Draw a cross section of one of the Miami Valley s dams. Label the major components/building materials. Are there any moving parts? Watch: Where is the Hoover Dam? When was it built? For what purpose was it built? How would the different intents of the builders of the Upper Miami River Dams and the Hoover Dam have influenced the designs of these dams?

13 Reservoirs: Holding Back Water Name: period: Imagine it s summertime. You want to sit in a pool with your friends, but you don t have one. You start eyeing your friend s pickup. Hey, you think to yourself, we could use the bed of the truck to make a pool! The back of your buddy s truck is 88 inches long, 60 inches wide, and 20 inches deep. 1. What is the volume of the bed of the truck in cubic inches? (volume = area x depth = length x width x depth) 2. What is the volume of the bed of the truck in cubic feet? (12 inches = 1 foot) 3. What is the volume of the truck in gallons? (1 cubic foot = 7.48 gallons) 4. Hmm. You start to wonder if you have time to fill up the truck. You have a hose that can has a maximum flow rate (the speed at which water comes out of the hose) of 5 gallons per minute. How long would it take to fill up the back of the truck in minutes? 5. How long will it take in hours to fill up the truck? PAUSE: Does your answer make sense?

14 6. When the Dayton Flood came through Dayton, 63,376,896,000 cubic feet of water fell on the Upper Greater Miami Valley region (the part of the watershed that is upstream of Dayton). How many gallons is this? 7. Each dam, during a flood, will hold back water from flowing too quickly through the system of levees that protect the Dayton area from flooding. They are shown in the table below: Reservior Stream Capacity (acre-ft) Capacity (gallons) Surface Area Normal Maximum Maximum (acre) Taylorsville Reservior Great Miami River 186, , ,778,651,594 11,000 Indian Lake Great Miami River 45,900 69,900 22,777,014,887 5,800 Englewood Reservior Stillwater River 312, , ,576,640,177 7,900 Huffman Reservior Mad River 167, ,000 96,777,874,413 9,180 Lockington Reservior Loramie Creek 70, ,000 41,057,280,054 4,020 In a flood situation, what is the most water that this system can hold (in gallons)? 8. Would there have been enough capacity in the reservoirs in a flood with the conditions met during the 1913 Great Dayton Flood? (474,059,182,080 gallons of rain fell on the Upper Great Miami River Watershed during the 1913 Flood). 9. What is the difference (give a number)? Is there more or less than the needed capacity in the reservoirs? 10. If you find there is more, was the Dayton Reservoir system overdesigned? Explain, using complete sentences and your own words. If you find there is not enough space, is this a shortcoming in the design, or are we not accounting for more places that water can be stored in the watershed? Explain, using complete sentences and your own words.

15 Erosion and Flooding QUIZ REVIEW In what ways do humans cause erosion? Name: period: In what ways can humans prevent erosion from farmand or streams? What events lead to the Great Dayton Flood of 1913? (three events) If only 9-11 inches of rain fell in the Upper Great Miami River Basin, why was there more than 20 feet of standing water in some places in downtown Dayton? Name the dams built in the Miami Valley to prevent future flooding of Downtown Dayton. Would the dams in the greater Miami Valley help to prevent a repeat flood? What other structures are part of the flood control system in the Miami Valley? Draw a cross section of the dams built in the Miami Valley? Who were the important people who helped either during or after the flood? (name 3)

16 What were the three reasons the Hoover Dam was built? Where is the Hoover Dam? What equation should you use to calculated area? What equation should you use to calculate volume? How many inches in a foot? How many feet in a yard? How many centimeters in an inch?

17 Name: period: Erosion and Flooding Quiz The Dayton Flood 1. The Great Dayton Flood took place in the year. 2. What events lead to the Great Dayton Flood? (three events) A. B. C. 3. If only 9-11 inches of rain fell in the Upper Great Miami River Basin, why was there more than 20 feet of standing water in some places in downtown Dayton?

18 4. Name the five dams built in the Miami Valley to prevent future flooding of Downtown Dayton. A. B. C. D. E. 5. What other structures are part of the flood control system in the Miami Valley? 6. Draw a cross section of the dams built in the Miami Valley.

19 7. Who were the three important people that we talked about in class who either helped the Dayton area survive the flood or prevent future floods? A. B. C. The Hoover Dam 8. Name the river the Hoover Dam was built to control and one of the two states the Hoover Dam touches. 9. What were the three reasons the Hoover Dam was built? A. B. C. Erosion 10. Name one way humans contribute to erosion in the way they use land.

20 11. Name one way humans can stop or slow erosion from farmland or streams that we observed on our field trip to the heavy equipment area. 12. What is the equation for area? 13. What is the equation for volume? 14. How many Inches in a foot? Feet in a mile? Feet in a yard? Centimeters in an inch?