CATLETTSBURG — Laura “Lolly” Spears, 87, of Catlettsburg, was 12 years old when her family home on 47th Street in Ashland flooded in January 1937.

“I do remember we lived in Ashland and the water kept coming and coming and coming,” she said.

The water eventually reached to the roof of her home and the family moved in with her grandparents, whose home was closer to Catlettsburg. When that home flooded, too, they took shelter with a friend of the family who lived on a hill, Spears said.

“We stayed on higher ground after that,” she said.

After floodwaters retreated, the family found a new home on a higher elevation, Spears said.

While she said she knows now what a horror the flood must have been for her parents and the other adults involved, as a young girl Spears didn’t understand the severity of the flood.

She said she remembers the area where her family stayed was also a retreat for a number of other families and Spears and the other children got to play together.

“We, as children, had a good time,” she said.

In January 1937, the streets of many communities along the Ohio River and its tributaries were filled with water. This month marks the 75th anniversary of one of the most devastating floods in the Tri-State.

The city of Catlettsburg will mark the occasion with a dinner at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Boyd County Cooperative Extension office. The event will be free, but donations are welcome.

Frank Branham, director of Catlettsburg Main Street, said the event will feature dinner as well as a slideshow of photos taken during the flooding. He said he hopes for the event to become a community forum where those who remember the 1937 flood are encouraged to tell their stories.

The event will mark the date that the flood reached its peak in Catlettsburg in 1937, Branham said.

“This was probably the most all-encompassing tragedy that ever hit the town,” he said.

According to the National Weather Service, the river at Ashland reach its highest recorded crest on that day, reaching 74.2 feet. The next highest crest came in April 1948 and peaked at 65.9 feet. In comparison, the water level on Tuesday was about 37.4 feet. The flood stage is 52 feet.

The year 1937 was hardly the first time Catlettsburg flooded, though it was the worst. There were about 37 significant floods recorded between 1887 and 1958, according to information provided by Branham.

“Floods were part of Catlettsburg culture,” he said.

That’s one reason he wants people to come together to remember the flood, Branham said. At the time, people accepted flooding as an inevitability, and the culture of the city has changed since the floodwall was erected.

A mild winter combined with high levels of rain and a lack of dams to control the level of the river at different points were factors in the flood reaching the heights it reached in 1937, Branham said.

In Catlettsburg, about 80 percent of the town was covered in water, including the railroad track. About 4,000 were left homeless, he said. There was about 21 feet of water in the town.

Branham said the only way in and out of town was a road near the current Catlettsburg Post Office.

“It was virtually cut off from the outside,” he said.

The waters were so high the only way to get around town was by boat. All businesses were shut down as were services such as water, gas and electricity, Branham said.

He compared the flood to what was experienced when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast — there was water everywhere, but drinkable water became scarce.

The 1937 flood left a permanent mark on Catlettsburg, Branham said. Many homes were destroyed or even floated away in the flood and were never rebuilt. It also meant  a drop in the population.

“A lot of families left and never came back,” he said.

The 1937 flood also elicited an outcry for flood control, including flood walls, he said.

Thirty-three communities in the area built flood walls in the 20 years after the flood.

Catlettsburg’s floodwall was started in 1956 and completed in 1958, Branham said. He said the water levels reached in 1937 were a major consideration in the building of the Ashland and Catlettsburg floodwalls.

KATIE BRANDENBURG can be reached at kbrandenburg@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.