Flood season is upon us. As temperatures push consistently above freezing for the first time in roughly 2 months, the huge amount of snow that has built up is starting to melt.

Obviously this water will have to go somewhere. That could spell big trouble for those in Lafayette, West Lafayette, and the surrounding regions. If the flood that occurred last April proved anything, it was that Tippecanoe County is still not ready to handle excessive amounts of water flowing down the Wabash, as low-lying land along the banks became immersed in water, flooding over 100 homes in the worst flood since June of 1958. Apartment complexes, such as Williamsburg on the Wabash, had several feet of water flowing from the river into their parking lots, some places as high as 8 feet deep, causing expensive damage to the property.

In order to avoid a similar situation, Purdue has already started to take action, using heavy-duty equipment to control snow on campus, however with the sudden weather change, any effort may not be good enough.

Tippecanoe County is no stranger to floods. In fact, last year marked the 100 year anniversary of the great flood of 1913, a flood resulting from a storm that caused massive damage across several states. Given the current anxiety in the air, fearing something similar may take place, it is a good time to remember what happened during that fateful spring.

The unfortunate series of events started on Friday, March 21, when drastic temperature drops and high-speed winds rocked the town of Lafayette. During this time, nearly 190,000 cubic feet of water per second were coming through the Wabash River. To put it in perspective, that is nearly 10 times the amount of water that flows off of the Niagara Falls on the America side of the landmark.

The initial windstorms took one life in Lafayette, a man hit with an airborne sign, and an additional 241 lives across the entire storm cell, including 21 in Terre Haute. As communities were crippled with wind damage, massive rain storms continued, causing the Wabash to grow stronger and faster, not to mention, rise to unprecedented levels, at roughly a foot per hour.

By the time Tuesday rolled around, several streets were hidden under chest-deep water. By Wednesday, both Brown Street bridge and Main Street bridge had collapsed, leaving only one bridge, a rail bridge, to connect Lafayette and West Lafayette. People trying to cross the river found it nearly impossible, as several were swept away never to be seen again.

Wednesday night, the river crested at 32.9 feet before it started to receed.

While there is no official death toll for Lafayette and the rest of Tippecanoe County, estimates for Indiana lie in the 100-200 range. However, due to poor records and exaggeration, history may never know the real number of casualities.

If weather conditions play out in a sort of perfect storm again, several hydrologists believe that a flood of this degree could happen in the future. When? It is very difficult to tell. However, now bridges stand stronger, dams are built more effectively, and cities are planned more carefully.

As the spring of 2014 is growing near and experts start to talk about the massive amounts of water that just seems to be lying around, it’s difficult not to worry. Hopefully, Lafayette will never be so close to becoming a modern day Atlantis again.

Click to see more photos here.

*Pictures of the 1913 flood are on record at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association