By Leland Crouse
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March 25, 1913 was the worst flooding ever at Ada.
Wind and flood mark the advent of Spring and make Easter a day of gloom. Last Friday was Good Friday in the religious calendar, marking the day of the crucifixion of Christ. On that day of this calendar year there swept up from the southwest a terrific wind that prevailed all day, varying from a gale to a hurricane; its common gait was about 60 miles an hour but in some parts of the state it speeded up to 85 miles.
The storm prevailed all day in this vicinity. There was no serious damage in town. Saturday was fairly decent but Sunday morning a rain set that made Easter Sunday a very gloomy day for those that had planned visits. The rain was a steady downpour all day. Monday morning early another typhonic breeze started up and made things howl for a few hours then at 5:30 a a huge cloud hung over the north and west like a black pall and soon the rain came and in torrents at that. It was a sheet of water that fell for some minutes and soon the lowlands, already well soaked, were lakelets and cellars in town became resevoirs. No one ever saw more water in their cellars, everything was at flood stage.
The rain gage at Upper Sandusky shows a precipitation of nine and fifty-seven hundredths inches not including the Thursday snow, so that total there was about ten inches. An empty tub that was left outside in Ada was running over. A tub is no less than 12” deep. Over the state of Ohio 3,625 lives were lost.
