On June 8th, 1972, life went on as normal in Rapid City. It had been a pretty rainy season prior to that but nothing out of the ordinary. No one was suspecting of anything to happen in the next few days. It was just a nice early summer day.
On June 9th, 1972, it rained for six hours straight. Thunderstorms were constant and seemed to have no intentions of ever letting up. The clouds wouldn’t break, the clear sky was trapped behind the downpour of rain. Over 15 inches of rain were let loose onto Rapid City, and more specifically, Rapid Creek. The waters rose faster than you could imagine, and with the ground saturated with moisture from earlier rain in the season, it was turning into a recipe for disaster. And a disaster certainly did happen.
In the earliest hours of the morning on June 10th, the Canyon Lake Dam had failed because it had gotten so clogged up with debris from the flash floods that resulted from the storms. Here is what happened next…
National Weather Service/Wikimedia The overflowing creek and dam rushed into residential areas with barely a warning for everyone living there. People were rushing out when the water was already up to their houses. Debris piled up on streets and prevented people from getting away. The rushing waters could easily just pull someone away and have them disappear under the water.
NOAA/Wikimedia The aftermath was pure devastation. Over 3,000 people were injured and 238 people lost their lives to the flood. The total cost of the damage was a whopping $165 million in 1972, which would be nearly a billion dollars today.
The flood certainly brought hardships to the area and will never be forgotten, even more than 40 years after the fact. No one knew that the insane amount of rain would happen, or what kind of destruction it would cause. Many houses and business that were within the flood plain were either moved or raised to be better prepared from then on, and the Canyon Lake Dam was redesigned in order to help prevent any future clogging issues.
National Weather Service/Wikimedia
The overflowing creek and dam rushed into residential areas with barely a warning for everyone living there. People were rushing out when the water was already up to their houses. Debris piled up on streets and prevented people from getting away. The rushing waters could easily just pull someone away and have them disappear under the water.
NOAA/Wikimedia
The aftermath was pure devastation. Over 3,000 people were injured and 238 people lost their lives to the flood. The total cost of the damage was a whopping $165 million in 1972, which would be nearly a billion dollars today.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article.
