Gallery of Historical Images
Capturing Stormwater Since 1956!
This unidentified woman stands in flood water at Shields and Lorna Avenues, just west of Hughes Avenue in Fresno.
Unidentified man and boy in a rowboat, making their way down Gilbert Avenue, north of Ventura and west of First. Shot is pointing to the west.
Fresno Bee photo caption: 1969 Wishon, north of Belmont; City of Fresno field engineer James Herzog
Unidentified men in a rowboat, crossing the flooded parking lot of the former Frank J. Sanders car dealership at Tulare Avenue, just west of First Street.
This photo was published in the Fresno Bee in an undated 1969 issue.
1969 flooding at H Street, near Stanislaus Street.
South of Shaw, looking south east. This is the source of the flood water shown in the 1969 Downtown, Tower District, and Mayfair District photos.
Unidentified man slogging through flood water. Shot is looking east on McKinley.
Storm Strategy Must Be Concerted
WATERY WAY - A partially completed flood control basin is on the other side of the fence to the left at Indianapolis and Glenn Avenues. In the center of the intersection the water is knee deep. Flood control officials say that if the basin excavation were completed the residents of the area would have no water problems. Meanwhile, occupants of the houses at right have moved out waiting for the water to subside.
This tractor rig took on an amphibious look at the driver plowed through the high water at H and Calaveras Streets. The depth of the water was such that vehicles driving through left waves which lapped at the adjoining buildings.
Still under water - A large area around the intersection of North H Street and Palm Avenue was one of the few sections of the city remaining under water today. A city employee is about to relocate an intake hose to help pump water back into Dry Creek. Water was still 18 inches deep.
SANDBAGGERS - Fresno Marine reservists, aided by neighborhood youngsters, put sandbags in place along McKinley Avenue in East Fresno in an attempt to stem the flow of flood water pouring into the city from swollen foothill streams.
RESCUE - A Fresno fireman perched on the end of an aerial ladder helps Helen Perkins of 456 N. Fourth St. off the roof of a car in the middle of the flooded Fresno Street underpass. Edward Lee Simmons of Chicago, who was with Miss Perkins, swam to higher ground. The couple had attempted to drive through the underpass early today. Police said the car was owned by Mac Foster of Fresno, the heavyweight prizefighter.
MUDDY WATER POURING out of the foothills boils through the weir of Mill Ditch along McKinley Avenue near Clovis Avenue as workmen continue piling up sandbags along the ditch bank. Sandbags lined many sections on both sides of the brimming canal yesterday.
LOOKING DOWN - This was the scene at Belmont Avenue and Fulton Street yesterday as water began spreading out from overflowing ditch nearby. Canals throughout the city were running brimful. This photo was taken by Roger Falk from a plane flown by Roy Seth.
LISA GUNTHER, 8, looks down from the top of Dry Creek to the flooded conditions on East McKinley Avenue west of Cedar Avenue. Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Herman Gunther of 3544 Circle Court East, who said their home was not affected much by the downpour.
LIKE BOATS MOORED to a dock, the mobile homes stand deep in flood waters that washed through a trailer court on North Minnewawa Avenue in Clovis during the night. The scene was repeated through the Fresno and Clovis areas.
Joseph Mueller Is Appointed to Renewal Post
TOP: IT WAS A LOT easier to travel some streets by boat than by car over the weekend as shown in this scene at the Frank J. Sanders automobile agency on Tulare Street. Water in showrooms at left was knee deep.
BOTTOM: SOME OF THE FAMILIES who left their homes and sought shelter at the Red Cross emergency center set up at the Convention Center's Exhibit Hall are shown having breakfast there this morning. A total of 51 persons were accommodated. On the upper floor rooms were provided for sleeping, medical care and a nursery for children.
IRRESISTIBLE FORCE - As hard as they tri8ed, work crews frequently were unable to stem the tide during the rush of water through Fresno's ditches and canals yesterday. This was the scene on Mill Ditch near Van Ness and Belmont Avenues. Despite a bank of sandbags, the water crashed through, pouring out of the ditch toward homes and businesses in the area.
HARRIED WORKERS like this one rushed through the city yesterday piling up sandbags along the banks of fast-rising ditches and canals, trying to keep the water from pouring over and into nearby homes.
FLOOD WATER surrounds a dormitory at Fresno State College as a student slogs through it. Other students take in the scene from a balcony. Only one entrance - at Barstow and Cedar Avenues - remained open at the college this morning and classes were cancelled for the day. Most of the water collected along Shaw Avenue.
EVEN THE DUMB ANIMALS WERE giving the Wishon Underpass in North Fresno a wide berth during yesterday's downpour. Obeying the warning signs, a lone pooch warily steps around the flooded underpass.
CONTRARY to appearances, this is not a canal running through Fresno. It is the Belmont Underpass, as it looked after yesterday's downpour, filled almost to capacity. Underpasses on Fresno Street and Wishon Avenues also were closed to traffic by flood waters.
COMMON SIGHT - Typical of many intersections throughout the city early today was the one at Broadway and Stanislaus Street where the water covered the streets and sidewalks and lapped against the buildings. The truck driver found the street passable, provided he drove slowly.
ALMOST COMPLETELY DRY a few days ago - just before the rain early last week - the new Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District basin on Fresno Street between Dakota and Shields Avenue now stands about a third full as a result of the weekend downpour. The ponding basin did its job, gulping the fast-spreading water from as far north as Shaw Avenue and east of Maple Avenue. It hardly requires a vivid imagination to picture how much worse conditions could have been without it.
CARS WENT ELSEWHERE - The scene at Stanislaus Street looking south on the usually heavily traveled Freeway 99 yesterday was one of no traffic, but much water. The torrential rains, combined with the runoff from the banks of highway which washed out landscaping, and temporary difficulties with a pump created this small sea several feet deep. A highway worker is at the edge of the water. The Highway Patrol diverted traffic from the freeway through city streets and back to the freeway at Olive Avenue.
TOP: PROTECTING FRESNO - Spreading out along the base of the Sierra foothills, the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District's Redbanks Reservoir takes on the appearance of a huge lake as it collects runoff flowing out of the mountains, receiving water which would be roaring through the streets of Fresno were it not for the rock and earth dam. The view here is shown north of Shaw Avenue looking toward the southeast. Flood Control District officials estimate the reservoir, which has been filling rapidly since the start of the rain Saturday now is about half full. Spillway use leaves stormwater reserve capacity for floodwater surges.
BOTTOM: THE REDBANK RESERVOIR sends water over the spillway for the first time since it was built seven years ago. The spilling, at a rate of about 200 cubic feet a second, helps control the capacity of the reservoir.
Wettest Year To This Date
Foothill reservoirs urged
Fresno Flood Basin Parks Get Solon Nod
Public Flood Cost May Top $4 Million
Dam On Fancher Creek Is Urged To Hold Floods
After The Floods: Agencies Must Reappraise Their Facilities, Policies
Flood Basins Do Their Job
Clear Weather Brings Hope Of Flood Respite
Fresno, Tulare Get Disaster Area Tags
Redbank Spills --- 1st Time
Officials Urge Permanent City Storm System
Haste Is Sought In Selecting Fancher Dam Site
House Group Will Probe Flood Loss
Governor Signs For US Flood Aid Funds
Floods Meeting Hears Aid Plan To Check Hill Runoff
A Flood of Comment
Wills Blames Apathy For Flood Losses
Exhausting Battle Against Floodwaters
FID Reports Rise In Ground Water Level
The area shown is Belmont Avenue, Fulton Street & Van Ness Boulevard, looking north.
Unidentified man in a canoe at Stafford & H Streets, in downtown Fresno.
Photo taken at old Fresno City Hall downtown. L-r- Charlie Taylor, Clint Beery, Norma Stevens, Johnny Ventura, William E. Forbes (Chairman – center), Andy Caglia, Jim Martin, Kurt Nagel and Mooney Fiorani
FMFCD Board 1965 – b-f, l-r – Bill McGlasson, Floyd Olsen (or Grover Groves, Paul Wasemiller (on Fresno City Council at this time), Mooney Fiorani, Jim Martin, Bill Forbes, Charlie Taylor. Two Directors missing from the photo: Clarence Smith and Grover Groves.
This photo was taken at McKinley and Fairfax Avenues, one block east of Cedar, looking northeast.
This neighborhood at McKinley and Price Avenues )one block east of Maple, looking north) was one of many in this state of flooding.
Still shot found in FMFCD's film “It’s Up To You” ca. 1961, maybe 1962
North Lafayette and West Shields Avenues.
1958 - McKinley Avenue, one block east of Cedar, looking west.
Hammond Avenue in Fresno, east of Dry Creek
March 23, 1958 - Fresno Police Department Motorcycle Officer John Montgomery rides through flood waters at Hammond, near Fresno Street, east of Dry Creek.
City Calls For More Storm Drainage Wells
The scene of this flooding is on Dakota, just west of West Avenue. A man in flood water tends to a portable pump.
Storm Sewers Job May Bring Paved Streets
Flood Control System Is Urged
Fresno Bee newspaper article features the very first Board of Directors of the brand new Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District.
Unidentified people in a boat at Clark and Hammond Streets. Photo by Mr. Edward Remus.
Flood Pours Into Fig Garden
Downtown Fresno car dealership, flooded in 1925.