Flooding occurred in the Kansas, Neosho, Marais Des Cygnes, and Verdigris river basins. The damage in June and July 1951 across eastern Kansas and Missouri exceeded $935 million (equivalent to $10.5 billion in 2022). The flooding killed 17 people and displaced 518,000.

In mid-July 1951, heavy rains led to a lot of water in the Kansas River. Flooding happened in the Kansas, Neosho, Marais Des Cygnes, and Verdigris river basins. There was more than $935 million in damage in eastern Kansas and Missouri in June and July 1951. Adjusting for inflation, it would be nearly $8.52 billion in 2016.

The flooding actually began in June and continued into mid July. Extremely heavy rains of 8 to 16 inches fell from July 9 - 13 culminating in the highest river stages since the Great Flood of 1844. July 13, 1951, can be rightly designated as the single day of greatest flood destruction in Midwestern United States history to that date.

The most damaging flooding in 1951, and the event that received the most media attention, occurred along the Kansas River where the cities of Manhattan, Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City sustained extensive damage (fig. 1). Total damage from the floods was unprecedented.