On May 25th 1908 the Trinity River crested at 52.6 ft after 15 inchs of rainfall. This left the Trinity River 2 miles wide in some places and totally cut off newly annex Oak Cliff from the city of Dallas. Most of downtown was under water as was Mc Kinney Ave in downtown. Today that part of town is the West End and Victory Park. Both areas were under 6-10 foot of water. The water went up Mc Kinney Ave to just past where El Fenix is today. If you ride the Trolley when it makes a right turn on to St Paul the flood water was just one block down on Mc Kinney Ave .
Of course most of Turtle Creek , western boundary of Uptown,was under water also as the flood waters backed up the creek. All the bridges crossing the Trinity were washed away. A new bridge , Houston St via duct , was quickly completed connecting Oak Cliff with downtown Dallas again. The reason it was so quickly completed is that for the next 18 months the area had very little rain. Not a day was lost due to rainfall.
That is why we love rain in Texas . With the flood today comes the drought tomorrow.
Happy Birthday America!
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