Summary of floods in the United States during 1951

One of the greatest and most destructive floods of the century occurred in 1951-the July flood in Kansas and Missouri. Losses caused by that flood were about five times the total flood losses in the United States during 1950. Total flood losses in the United States during 1951 were about $1 billion, according to figures compiled by the Weather Bureau from all available sources, and 51 lives were lost.

The major floods in 1951 were largely confined to a small number of States in the southeastern and midcontinental United States. Localized floods were widely scattered. One feature of the year, however, was the absence of late-season floods; no floods of any consequence occurred after mid-September.