Remembering The 1937 Flood
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Seventy
years ago, the floodwaters of the Ohio River crested and changed the lives
of thousands of people living in its path. Our beloved prophet was one of
these people.
During the month of January 1937, there were only eight days without rain.
The already swollen Ohio River could not contain the storms. The rainwater
flooded low-lying areas on its path to the Ohio, but once the water reached
the river, there was nowhere for it to go. The water rose over six feet
between January 21 and 22 alone. The engorged river backed up the small
streams causing the floodwaters to reach miles inland. The small town of
Jeffersonville was almost completely flooded, with 22 feet of water covering
Spring Street in downtown Jeffersonville. Even the Branham Tabernacle was
completely submerged.
During the time of the flood, I was preaching here one night, left my Bible.
The '37 flood came overnight almost, as it swept through the Tabernacle,
picked up this same pulpit, raised it right up; there was no other ceiling
in here then, and set it right against the ceiling. The Word being under
the pulpit, instead of it sinking it floated, took it right up to the ceiling.
And I rowed all around over here in a boat. And then when the waters went
down, it came down and was laying right here at the same chapter I was reading
out of, after the flood. "Heavens and earth will pass away, but My Word
shall not." That's right. He's wonderful. Isn't He?William Branham 61-1231E
Brother Branham, a young father with two small children, did his best to
save as many people as he could. With his small boat and outboard motor,
he went house to house rescuing people from the icy waters. During his efforts,
his ailing wife was transferred to a hospital in a safer area, without Brother
Branhams knowledge. The days that would follow were filled with grief for
our young prophet, as he searched for his family not knowing if they were
safe or taken by the flood. We are all familiar with the trials suffered
by Brother Branham in the coming months.
The flood of 1937 has proven to be one of the worst natural disasters in
this nations history. In a country already devastated by the Great Depression,
over a million people were left homeless when the waters receded. From almost
two centuries of records, there has never been a flood in the Ohio River
Valley to compare to the flood of 1937.
