Silent film footage of the 1951 flood of the Kansas River basin in Topeka is now available on Kansas Memory. With 28 deaths and over $1 billion in damages, the '51 flood was one of the most devastating natural disasters to strike the Midwest. The flood lent support to a series of large dams and levees on rivers in the Missouri River basin. For additional materials on floods in Kansas, select the category Environment - Weather - Floods.