Editing Piqua, Ohio (section)

===1913 flood===
[[File:Piqua Flood 1913 East Water Street; Ray Thomas.png|thumb|Flooding of the [[Great Miami River]] in 1913]]
Piqua was one of the cities that suffered severe flooding during the [[Great Dayton Flood]] of 1913. Piqua is nestled in a sweeping "S" bend of the [[Great Miami River]] and experienced regular flooding before the Great Flood of 1913.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The First Century of Piqua Ohio|last=Raynor|first=John A.|publisher=The Magee Bros. Publishing Company|year=1916|location=Piqua, Ohio|pages=242}}</ref>

On March 22, 1913, a moderate storm moved down the [[St. Lawrence River]] basin into the [[Ohio River]] basin, with enough rain to moisten the soil upriver from the Miami River and its tributaries. The soil in that upper region is predominantly clayey glacial till, transitioning to mostly Loamy glacial till. Starting on March 23, 1913, rain began to fall for five days. The heaviest rainfall occurred on March 25 with anywhere from  2” in the southeast corner of Ohio to 5” in the area between Piqua and Troy. All together,  the total amount of precipitation for this five day period was recorded from 5” in the southeast of Ohio to 11” in the swatch between Piqua and Troy.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Miami Valley and the 1913 Flood|last=Morgan|first=Arthur E|publisher=State of Ohio, The Miami Conservancy District|year=1917|location=Dayton, Ohio|pages=38}}</ref>

[[File:Cumulative Rainfall Miami Drainage Area for March 23-27, 1913.png|thumb|alt=|Map: Cumulative Rainfall Miami Drainage Area for March 23–27, 1913. ''The Miami Valley and the 1913 Flood,'' Arthur E. Morgan, pg 38.]]
The flood waters came with such speed and force as to move homes off their foundations, depositing untold amounts of mud in others and claiming forty-nine lives in Piqua and neighboring Rossville alone. In places, streets were damaged or washed out to varying degrees of severity. Public utilities (gas, sewer and water) were hampered to provide services, due to mud clogging up the pipes. The estimated property damage/loss in Piqua reached $1,000,000 ($26.2M in present-day dollars), excluding public utilities and farm losses.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Miami Valley and the 1913 Flood|last=Morgan|first=Arthur E.|publisher=State of Ohio, The Miami Conservation District|year=1917|location=Dayton, Ohio|pages=117}}</ref> The [[Ohio and Erie Canal]],  which for 81 years had served as an important connection point from Ohio to the East Coast, was permanently closed to commercial traffic because of extensive flood damage.