Flood Control Act

There are multiple laws known as the Flood Control Act. Typically, they are administered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers:

List of Flood Control Acts

• Flood Control Act of 1917
• Flood Control Act of 1928, passed in the wake of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
• Flood Control Act of 1936
• Flood Control Act of 1937
• Flood Control Act of 1938
• Flood Control Act of 1939
• Flood Control Act of 1941
• Flood Control Act of 1944, U.S. legislation that authorized the construction of thousands of dams and levees across the United States
• Flood Control Act of 1946
• Flood Control Act of 1948
• Flood Control Act of 1950
• Flood Control Act of 1954
• Flood Control Act of 1958
• Flood Control Act of 1960
• Flood Control Act of 1962
• Flood Control Act of 1965
• Flood Control Act of 1966
• Flood Control Act of 1968
• Flood Control Act of 1970

General History

There were several major floods between 1849 and 1936 that moved Congress to pass legislation. The first significant federal flood control laws were the Swamp Land Acts of 1849 and 1850. A flood on the Mississippi River in 1874 led to the creation of the Mississippi River Commission in 1879. Floods on the Mississippi, Ohio, and other rivers in the Northeast led to the Flood Control Act of 1917, which was the first act aimed exclusively at controlling floods. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 led to substantial flood control funding. And a series of floods in 1935 and 1936 across the nation were critical in the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936.

See also

For related legislation which sometime also implement flood control provisions, see the following:

• Rivers and Harbors Act
• Water Resources Development Act
• Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954