Floods occurred on streams in the vicinity of Perry,

Taylor County, Florida, on June 9, 1957, as a result of heavy

rains from atropical disturbance. Serious flooding occurred

in Perry along Spring and Pimple creeks as outlined by the

shaded area in figure 1, requiring the evacuation of about

ZOO families from the lowland area. No loss of life was

reported. The damages to residential and commercial properties

were estimated at several million dollars. Most of

the damage was confined to residential areas (fig. 2); however,

several stores in the area were damaged by flood

waters (fig. 3).

This report presents data pertaining to the rainfall

accompanying this storm and peak flows of Spring and Pimple

creeks in Perry. It contains flood elevations at several

points, and peak discharges of the two creeks flowing through

Perry. The report also contains a discussion of the rainfall

associated with the flood and a description of the general

features of the flood.  (PDF contains 16 pages.

Musgrove, R. H.

English

Aquatic Commons

STATE OF FLORIDA
STATE BOARD OF CONSERVATION
Ernest Mitts, Director
FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Robert O. Vernon, Director
INFORMATION CIRCULAR NO. 17
FLOOD OF JUNE 9, 1957, AT PERRY, FLORIDA
By
Rufus H. Musgrove
Hydraulic Engineer, U. S. Geological Survey
Prepared by
U. S. Geological Survey
in cooperation with the
Florida Geological Survey
Tallahassee, Florida
1958

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction......................... 1
Description of the area .................. 1
Rainfall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5
General features of the flood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Peakflows ............................ 7
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure
1 Map of Spring and Pimple creeks in Perry,
Florida, showing high-water elevations for
flood of June 9, 1957. .............. 2
2 Flooded area in residential section in Perry,
Florida, June 9, 1957 .............. 3
3 Flooded area along Pimple Creek in Perry,
Florida, June 9, 1957 ........... ... 4
4 Isohyetal map showing total rainfall
June 7-8, 1957, in vicinity of Perry, Florida. . 6
5 Flooded area along Spring Creek in Perry,
Florida, June 9, 1957 .............. 8
6 Pimple Creek at Atlantic Coast Line Railroad,
Perry, Florida, June 9, 1957 . . . . . . . . . . 9
7 Flooding by Pimple Creek at intersections
of Ash and. Jefferson streets, Perry, Florida,
June 9, 1957 ................... 11
8 Pimple Creek at Jefferson Street, Perry,
Florida, June 9, 1957 ............. 12
iii

FLOOD OF JUNE 9, 1957, AT PERRY, FLORIDA
By
Rufus H. Musgrove
INTRODUCTION
Floods occurred on streams in the vicinity of Perry,
Taylor County, Florida, on June 9, 1957, as a result of heavy
rains from atropical disturbance. Serious flooding occurred
in Perry along Spring and Pimple creeks as outlined by the
shaded area in figure 1, requiring the evacuation of about
ZOO families from the lowland area. No loss of life was
reported. The damages to residential and commercial prop-
erties were estimated at several million dollars. Most of
the damage was confined to residential areas (fig. 2); how-
ever, several stores in the area were damaged by flood
waters (fig. 3).
This report presents data pertaining to the rainfall
accompanying this storm andpeakflows of Spring and Pimple
creeks in Perry. It contains flood elevations at several
points, andpeak discharges of the two creeks flowing through
Perry. The report also contains a discussion of the rainfall
associated with the flood and a description of the general
features of the flood.
The rainfallrecords were collected bythe U.S. Weather
Bureau and the Florida Forest Service. The Buckeye Cellu-
lose Corporation furnished a map of the area showing the
location of rainfall stations operated by the Florida Forest
Service. Photographs of the flood were received from Dick
Bryant, Perry, Florida.
This report was prepared in the Ocala office of the
U.S. Geological Survey, Surface Water Branch, under the
direct supervision of A. 0. Patterson, District Engineer.
DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA
Perry is the county seat of Taylor County and is located
in the Big Bend area of Florida in the coastal lowlands. This
1
2 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
-. '- - a~
N I
Ah Street
Flooded area
44 1
40.3
\ /
39.9'
0 Location and elevation of
floodmark
Location of peak- discharge
measurement
1000 0 1000
SCALE IN FEET
Figure 1. Map of the Spring and Pimple creeks in Perry,
Florida, showing flooded area, points of peak-
discharge measurement, and high-water eleva-
tions, in feet above mean sea level, for flood of
June 9, 1957.
0Figure Z. Flooded area in residential section in Perry,
Florida, June 9, 1957. (Photo courtesy of R. M.
Bryant)
w
o0
Ca
Figure 3. Flooded area along Pimple Creek in Perry,
.Florida, June 9, 1957. (Photo courtesy of R. M.
Bryant)
INFORMATIONi.CIRCULAR' NO. 17 5
area consists for the most part of nearly level plains, gen-
erally less than 100 feet above mean sea level.
The San Pedro Bay, to the northeast of Perry, is the
headwaters of several streams, including Spring and Pimple
creeks. This bay is heavily wooded and exceedingly flat, and
is 90 to 95 feet above mean sea level. Spring and Pimple
creeks both flow through Perry and join just west of town.
RAINFALL
A tropical disturbance on June"7 and 8 brought heavy
rains to this area from the Gulf of Mexico. This disturbance
was weak in-terms of its general wind circulation but was a
major storm in terms of rainfall. The recording rain gages
in the area showed that the heaviest rainfall began about
6 p.m. on June 7 and-lasted for a 36-hour period. Reports
indicate scattered showers occurred- in the area prior to
June 7. The greatest amount of rain reportedwas at a Florida
Forest Service fire tower 20 miles northeastof Perry, where
18.9 inches was measuredfor the 2-dayperiod. The heaviest
rainfall (over 18 inches) occurred northeast of Perry and
covered an area of about 15 square miles. A total storm
rainfall of 12 inches or more, covering an area of 1000 square
miles, was computed from the isohyetal map (fig. 4). A
total rainfall of 16. 31 inches was recorded during June 1957
at the Perry station. This was the second highest monthly
totalof record for that station, exceeded onlyby 16.86 inches
in June 1934. A rainfall of 11.7 inches was recorded for the
2-day period, June 7-8, 1957, at the Perry station.
Rainfall records for the storm were collected at three
recording and eight daily stations operated by the U. S.
Weather Bureau, and-at 14 daily stations operated by the
Florida Forest Service. No record from a recording gage
was available for the area of heaviest rainfall. Isohyetal
lines shown on the map (fig. 4) were based on all available
records.
GENERAL FEATURES OF THE FLOOD
Though there are no records on file of previous floods
in Perry, this flood is vividly remembered by some long-
time residents as being the most outstanding. Residents of
6 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Matmb S HAMI T CO
SMAD N COUNTY o
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T Y OR
16 S ANNEE CýO ý
14
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10 0
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11.7 L A A E T C U5NT
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1957, in the vicinity of Perry, Florida.
INFORMATION CIRCULAR NO. 17 7
the area remember two previous floods of noteworthy mag-
nitude, one in 1948, and the other, probably in 1934. The
flood of June 9, 1957, is by far the most outstanding in the
history of the community, in terms of damage. This area
has greatly increased in population during the past few years
with a consequent increase in development. Much of the
recent development has been adjacent to the channels of
Spring and Pimple creeks in Perry.
Spring Creek, flowing in a westerly direction through
Perry, overflowed its banks, inundated several streets, and
caused considerable damage to homes and business property.
The floodwater rose to a depth of one foot inside the super-
market andlaundryjust east of Center Street (fig. 5). Homes
were flooded all along the creek from the northeast edge of
town down through the Brooklyn area. Spring Creek reached
a peak stage during the night of June 9.
Flood waters from Pimple Creek damaged homes and
stores in the northern section and in the Tidewater Cypress
Company area before joining Spring Creek just west of town.
Several streets were flooded along Pimple Creek, and a sec-
tion of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad bridge was torn out
to help relieve flooding upstream (fig. 6). Local residents
at the scene reported that the floodon Pimple Creek crested
about noon on June 9.
PEAK FLOWS
An indirect measurement of peak discharge was made
on Spring Creek at apoint downstream from U. S. Highway 19
and U. S. Highway 27 (fig. 1) where the entire flow was con-
fined by high banks. The peak discharge of 1, 360 cubic feet
per second was computed by Manning's formula from data
collected after the flood waters had subsided. A channel
roughness (n) of 0. 045 was selected for this section and a
water-surface slope of 0.0011 foot per foot was measured
from high-water marks. A mean velocity of 3.2 feet per
second was computed for this section of channel.
Spring Creek drains an area of about 24 square miles
above the point of the peak-discharge measurement. The
valley slope of this streamis about seven feet per mile from
0O
0
Figure 5. Flooded area along Spring Creek in Perry,
Florida, June 9, 1957. (Photo courtesy of R. M.
Bryant)
. ' O'. . , .
.. " '- : " ., ' .. '" 'l ... . "* . ,' ' ' •"-'. • 
1 
' 
1"'T-
Figure 6. Pimple Creek at Atlantic Coast Line Railroad,
Perry, Florida, June 9, 1957. (Photo courtesy
of R. M. Bryant)
10 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
the point of origin in San Pedro Bay. The normal low-water
channel ends in an area of sinkholes about a mile east of town
and the creek flows only as an intermittent stream to a point
near Center Street.
An indirect measurement of peak discharge was made on
Pimple Creek at the North Jefferson Street crossing (fig. 1).
Jefferson Street was flooded (fig. 7) to a depth of half a foot
for a distance of 500 feet and a fall across the street of 1.0
foot was measured from high-water marks (fig. 8). Flow
over the street was computed using U. S. Geological Survey
procedures developed from Yarnell and Nagler data. Flow
through the bridge opening was computed by two methods,
flow-through-culvert and contracted-opening, with compar-
able results. The peak discharge through the bridge opening
was 1,610 cubic feet per second, and over the street, 250
cubic feet per second, giving a total peak discharge of the
stream of 1, 860 cubic feet per second.
Pimple Creek has a drainage area of about 12 square
miles above the Jefferson Street crossing. This creek flows
in a more direct route from San Pedro Baythan Spring Creek,
and has a valley slope of about 10 feet per mile.
The drainage system of Spring and Pimple Creeks is
rather complexin that theyhave a common origin, San Pedro
Bay. The greater unit peak discharge of Pimple Creek (155
second-feet per square mile)over Spring Creek (57 second-
feet per square mile) is accounted for by the greater valley
slope and the more direct route it takes from San Pedro Bay.
It is also noted that the peak flood on Pimple Creek was
reached some 8 to 10 hours prior to the flood on Spring Creek.
The peak discharge of either stream greatly exceeded
the discharge that could be carried without danger of flood-
ing. At the time this flood occurred, sections of these
streams had a heavy growth of vegetation which reduced, to
some extent, their maximum conveyance capacity.
Elevations in feet above mean sea level of high-water
marks were measured at several points along the streams
and are given in figure 1.
OFigure 7. Flooding by Pimple Creek at intersection of Ash
and Jefferson streets, Perry, Florida, June 9,
1957. (Photo courtesy of R. M. Bryant)
0
0
0
Figure 8. Pimple Creek at Jefferson Street, Perry, Florida,
June 9, 1957. (Photo courtesy of R. M. Bryant)


Flood of June 9, 1957, at Perry, Florida

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Flood of June 9, 1957, at Perry, Florida

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