111 years later, recalling the tragedy and heroism of the 1913 Fremont flood
On this date 111 years ago, what has been called the “most tragic weather event in Ohio History” was under way.
March 23, 1913, was Easter Sunday, and Sandusky County and Ottawa County residents heading to church were getting wet as three days of rain were getting started.
By the time three days had passed about 470 people had died in Ohio.
The 1913 flood hit home for Fremont, Port Clinton
The tragedy hit home for both Fremont and Port Clinton.
Capt. Isaac Floro, who was in his mid-60s at the time, was part of a Port Clinton rescue team that was sent to Fremont in response to the horrific flooding.
He and his crew were apparently responding to people in need on Wabash Street and were near the Howland Street and Ohio Avenue area where, according to the “Fremont Flood” souvenir book, “the currents were so terrible that it required more than two hours to reach the house.
“In such a current on Ohio Avenue, terrific in its swiftness, Captain Floro’s boat was thrown against a tree and capsized directly in front of Dr. Philo’s resident. Three men were in the boat, one had the luck to climb into a tree, the other clung to the boat and drifted to a place of safety, but the captain was tossed in the whirlpool and dashed against a tree on Howland Street, from which his body was taken several hours later. His boots were both off and his coat partly off, showing what a struggle against impossible odds he must had made.”
Floro, who was born in 1848 and who had a wife and four children, was buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Port Clinton after an estimated 2,000 people, including many from Fremont, attended the funeral and lined the streets along the funeral procession, pictures of which became postcards.
Floro died saving lives in Fremont
It is reported that his crew of Port Clinton fishermen had rescued “fully one thousand from the flood-stricken district” when the tragedy struck.
Fremonters honored him with a stone with this inscription: “Erected by citizens of Fremont, Ohio, in honor and memory of Captain Isaac Floro who gave his life in service during Fremont Flood March 25-28, 1913.
He was not the only person to die in Fremont during the flood. The others, according to “Fremont Flood,” were Frank Saller and John Homan. Homan reportedly was drowned in one of 19 houses either totally or partially destroyed next to the railroad embankment.
“Fremont Flood” said the water poured through a narrow space nearly to the height of the so-called “dry bridge” in “a mighty, terrible, rushing torrent, a veritable Niagara that nothing in its path could withstand.”
It was reported that 550 homes were flooded, 50 of them either totally destroyed or rendered uninhabitable.
More: Monitor local river levels
Roy Wilhelm started a 40-year career at The News-Messenger in 1965 as a reporter. Now retired, he writes a column for both The News-Messenger and News Herald.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Recalling the tragedy, heroism of the 1913 Fremont OH flood
