Case study: Hardin Cemetery Flood of 1993
Presentation: Hardin Cemetery flood of 1993
In the summer of 1993, unusual weather events led to the widespread flooding of 9 states. A levee that held back the swollen Missouri River was breached and flooded the town of Hardin, Missouri. The flood carved a new lake 50 feet deep through the center of Hardin Cemetery dislodging and breaking hundreds of caskets and vaults scattering the remains miles away.
At this time, Hardin Cemetery held 1,756 graves dating from the 19th century up to weeks before this disaster. Of those graves, 769 had washed away in the floodwaters. That was a little less than half of the graves buried there. This disaster was very devastating to the families that had relatives buried there. I can’t imagine the pain and sorrow that they had gone through.
The flooding was too much for the local authorities of Hardin, so they called in Forensic Anthropologists to help aid in the recovery effort. Forensic anthropologists are trained in identifying the dead, and the local jurisdictions usually work with the living. So when something devastating happens to a community, they just don’t have the skills or even the mental mindset to handle mass disasters.
When forensic anthropologists deal with mass disasters, they will work on hundreds of cases at a time, but they usually are working on one case at a time, and each case will take months to complete.
During a Mass Fatality Incident, as in Hardin, Missouri, The forensic anthropologist will handle many cases at once. He or she will create a biological profile of the persons out of the skeleton’s biological attributes and unique features. By making a biological profile, it can then be compared to missing person reports in hopes of finding out who they were. The anthropologist can also assist in search and recovery, processing of records, and other critical activities.
Every disaster possesses unique challenges because every disaster is different. In the case of Hardin, the victims of the flood were dead before the disaster hit. “This complicated the recovery, storage, identification, and return of the remains.” The flood deeply affected the living because their family and history washed away.
The community of Hardin, Missouri, cares deeply about their history and their past. In 1993, the were a small farming town of 600 people. The flood that took out the cemetery was powerful enough to wash two-ton burial vaults and to empty caskets washing the remains into the farming fields.
RECOVERY
The local funeral director and county coroner, Dean Snow, organized a volunteer recovery. Within days after the flood, they got to work hauling coffins and vaults out of the flooded areas, and when the waters started to recede, they were able to find more remains in the mud and when the ground was completely dry, two men teams were sent out in all-terrain vehicles to look for bones and bodies. The two men teams recovered the remains over 25 square miles. The recovery effort lasted for about 3 months ending in mid-october.
The remains were then transported to a temporary morgue at the county fairgrounds where they were stored in refrigerated trucks until they could identify the bodies.
DMORT
The Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams also known as DMORT played an important role in the community of Hardin. DMORT was created in 1992 to help communities who are overwhelmed with dealing with the dead after national disasters. The Hardin Cemetery was the first time DMORT was employed. In August a DMORT assessment team was sent out and they deemed that Snow’s team of local volunteers were overwhelmed and they were approved to get help even though they did not think that many remains would be identified.
In mid-October a DMORT team set up their operations at the county fairgrounds and began the process of identifying the remains. This team was comprised by anthropologists, radiologists, odontologists, finger-print examiners, pathologists, and funeral service workers.
Identification Efforts
Usually in mass fatality incidents there are antemortem medical records that can be compared with the dead to identify the person, but with the Hardin disaster this was difficult to do because they were dealing with some remains that were at most 100 years old. In the court of law you have to have a positive match to identify someone.
Conclusion
By the end of the investigation, the teams were able to give positive identity to 119 remains, 93 from vaults or caskets that had a name on them, 23 from personal effects, and 3 from using anthropological methods.
There were still unidentified remains that could not get an identification. So in late October, the community of Hardin meet with Snow in a town meeting to discuss what should be done with the unidentified people. They determined that each skull should be considered an individual and each should be given their own full burial casket. They also determined that there would be 3 more caskets for the rest of the postcranial elements. One for male remains, one for female remains and one for the remains of babies and children.
The Hardin Cemetery purchased the cornfield next to it so they had a place to rebury the caskets and vaults. Identified individuals were placed in one section and the unidentified were placed in another. A monument was placed on the site for the victims of the flood.
References
Steadman, Dawnie Wolfe..
2016. Hard Evidence : Case Studies in Forensic Anthropology- American case studies Chapter 22 Corpi Aquaticus: The Hardin Cemetery Flood of 1993. Vol. Second edition. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. http://search.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1049989&site=eds-live.
In the summer of 1993, unusual weather events led to the widespread flooding of 9 states. A levee that held back the swollen Missouri River was breached and flooded the town of Hardin, Missouri. The flood carved a new lake 50 feet deep through the center of Hardin Cemetery dislodging and breaking hundreds of caskets and vaults scattering the remains miles away.
At this time, Hardin Cemetery held 1,756 graves dating from the 19th century up to weeks before this disaster. Of those graves, 769 had washed away in the floodwaters. That was a little less than half of the graves buried there. This disaster was very devastating to the families that had relatives buried there. I can’t imagine the pain and sorrow that they had gone through.
The flooding was too much for the local authorities of Hardin, so they called in Forensic Anthropologists to help aid in the recovery effort. Forensic anthropologists are trained in identifying the dead, and the local jurisdictions usually work with the living. So when something devastating happens to a community, they just don’t have the skills or even the mental mindset to handle mass disasters.
When forensic anthropologists deal with mass disasters, they will work on hundreds of cases at a time, but they usually are working on one case at a time, and each case will take months to complete.
During a Mass Fatality Incident, as in Hardin, Missouri, The forensic anthropologist will handle many cases at once. He or she will create a biological profile of the persons out of the skeleton’s biological attributes and unique features. By making a biological profile, it can then be compared to missing person reports in hopes of finding out who they were. The anthropologist can also assist in search and recovery, processing of records, and other critical activities.
Every disaster possesses unique challenges because every disaster is different. In the case of Hardin, the victims of the flood were dead before the disaster hit. “This complicated the recovery, storage, identification, and return of the remains.” The flood deeply affected the living because their family and history washed away.
The community of Hardin, Missouri, cares deeply about their history and their past. In 1993, the were a small farming town of 600 people. The flood that took out the cemetery was powerful enough to wash two-ton burial vaults and to empty caskets washing the remains into the farming fields.
RECOVERY
The local funeral director and county coroner, Dean Snow, organized a volunteer recovery. Within days after the flood, they got to work hauling coffins and vaults out of the flooded areas, and when the waters started to recede, they were able to find more remains in the mud and when the ground was completely dry, two men teams were sent out in all-terrain vehicles to look for bones and bodies. The two men teams recovered the remains over 25 square miles. The recovery effort lasted for about 3 months ending in mid-october.
The remains were then transported to a temporary morgue at the county fairgrounds where they were stored in refrigerated trucks until they could identify the bodies.
DMORT
The Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams also known as DMORT played an important role in the community of Hardin. DMORT was created in 1992 to help communities who are overwhelmed with dealing with the dead after national disasters. The Hardin Cemetery was the first time DMORT was employed. In August a DMORT assessment team was sent out and they deemed that Snow’s team of local volunteers were overwhelmed and they were approved to get help even though they did not think that many remains would be identified.
In mid-October a DMORT team set up their operations at the county fairgrounds and began the process of identifying the remains. This team was comprised by anthropologists, radiologists, odontologists, finger-print examiners, pathologists, and funeral service workers.
Identification Efforts
Usually in mass fatality incidents there are antemortem medical records that can be compared with the dead to identify the person, but with the Hardin disaster this was difficult to do because they were dealing with some remains that were at most 100 years old. In the court of law you have to have a positive match to identify someone.
Conclusion
By the end of the investigation, the teams were able to give positive identity to 119 remains, 93 from vaults or caskets that had a name on them, 23 from personal effects, and 3 from using anthropological methods.
There were still unidentified remains that could not get an identification. So in late October, the community of Hardin meet with Snow in a town meeting to discuss what should be done with the unidentified people. They determined that each skull should be considered an individual and each should be given their own full burial casket. They also determined that there would be 3 more caskets for the rest of the postcranial elements. One for male remains, one for female remains and one for the remains of babies and children.
The Hardin Cemetery purchased the cornfield next to it so they had a place to rebury the caskets and vaults. Identified individuals were placed in one section and the unidentified were placed in another. A monument was placed on the site for the victims of the flood.
References
Steadman, Dawnie Wolfe..
2016. Hard Evidence : Case Studies in Forensic Anthropology- American case studies Chapter 22 Corpi Aquaticus: The Hardin Cemetery Flood of 1993. Vol. Second edition. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. http://search.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1049989&site=eds-live.