DISASTER: Too Much & Too Little

In Kansas and Missouri, sweat-stained thousands set out to clear their homes after the nation's costliest flood. In the muck and debris left by receding waters, people fought rats, flies and fumes from gas leaks. Raging waters of the Kaw and the Missouri had killed 41 people, sent 500,000 fleeing, caused $875 million damage, flooded 2,000,000 acres. While the flood rolled on —less dangerously—into the Mississippi and past St. Louis, local, state and federal officials began to discuss what could be done for the future. Major General Lewis A. Pick, Chief of Army...