By Ron Brown
 
December 24, 2009
 
GOLD HILL, Ore. - There have been many winter-time floods in Southern, but most consider the Christmas Flood of 1964 the worst of the 20th century.
 
It came as many before have come, after heavy warm rain poured on top of heavy snowfalls. Local Meteorologist Leon Hunsaker was working for a California Utility Company then and is one of the few who predicted the flood. He says its roots sprouted in a storm off England and gathered strength in the jet stream that, in just a few days, punched a warm Pacific storm into the area following days of snowfall.
 
It poured at the lower elevations too. On December 19th, nearly three-quarters of an inch in Medford. The next day, more than an inch of steady rain. On the 21st almost two inches fell. Then on the 22nd, a whopping 3.2 inches at the Medford Airport. It continued through the 23rd with nearly another inch and finally ended early on Christmas Eve. Almost eight inches in five days.
 
Houses, roads and bridges washed away. Coastal harbors were choked with debris. A new gas line across the river at Gold Hill washed out, cutting service. Power was out everywhere. 22 people in Oregon died.
 
When the Christmas Flood of 1955 hit Southern Oregon, it was the first such event in nearly 30 years. In that time many people had built along the Rogue River.
 
Planners say there's a lot of demand for riverfront homes, and that means different rules apply.
 
"So, we do not allow you to build in the 'flood way'. But you can build in the 'flood plain'. You have to build the first floor above the base flood elevation," said Mike Matson with the Jackson County Planning Department in a 2005 interview.
 
Most historians consider the Christmas Flood of 1861-62 to be the largest on record in our region. By some accounts then, the Rogue River poured over into the Agate Desert at what is now White City. Other major floods occurred in 1891 and 1927.