On this day: August 1

POSTED: 08:47 PM PDT Jul 31, 2012    UPDATED: 11:00 PM PDT Jul 31, 2012 

Oxygen is discovered, Adolf Hitler presides over the opening of the Olympics, a new superhero is introduced, tragedy strikes the University of Texas and a new all-music TV network debuts, all on this day.

OTD August 1 - 1993 flooding
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Andrea Booher/FEMA

1993: The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 comes to a peak. The flood was among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages. It also destroyed 100,000 homes, inundated 15 million acres of farmland and officially killed 32 people.

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