As we deliberate on the disaster of Katrina, I started thinking about our state's greatest natural disaster, the flood that began as rain on Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913. Much of Ohio's worst flooding occurs in early spring, when the ground is saturated from winter melt.

By Tuesday, as the rain continued, flooding spread across the state, cresting everywhere except Cincinnati by Wednesday, where the Ohio River rose 21 feet in 24 hours.

The damage wrought by the storm was terrible, and no part of the state was spared. 428 people died.

In Southwestern Ohio, the Great Miami River flooded 14 square miles of Dayton, including the entire business district. Water ran 10' deep through downtown.

In Southeastern Ohio, Marietta and other Ohio River towns were under water. 4,500 homes in Portsmouth were flooded when the river topped the levees. Every bridge on the Muskingum south of Zanesville was destroyed.

In Northeastern Ohio, lumberyards and train yards in Cleveland were washed out by the Cuyahoga River after seven locks on the Ohio canal in Akron were dynamited, allowing floodwaters to pour downstream.

In Northwestern Ohio, the Maumee River drowned Tiffin, Defiance, and other towns on its banks.

Final estimates: 20,000 homes destroyed, 35,000 more damaged, and total damages at a staggering $300 million (in 1913 dollars).

In the immediate aftermath of the flood, the Red Cross fed as many as 220,000 victims.

In response to this disaster, the extensive levee system along the Miami River was built, which can be seen clearly today in downtown Piqua, Troy, Dayton, and Miamisburg. The flood was also the final nail in the casket of the Ohio Canal, which had lost most of its commerce to the railroad. The damages to its system were not worth the cost of repair.

Given the total population of Ohio in 1913, the impact of the Great Flood compares in dimension to the sad situation in Louisiana.

So not only could it happen here; it did happen here. Let's hope that in 100 years Katrina will be as faint a memory for the people of the Gulf Coast as the 1913 flood is for us.