The Black Hills Flood of 1972, in the Black Hills

Black Hills

The Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, USA. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an "island of...

 of Western South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, USA, occurred on June 9, 1972. The extreme rainfall of around 15 inches (381 mm) of rain in 6 hours sent Rapid Creek

Rapid Creek (South Dakota)

Rapid Creek is a tributary of the Cheyenne River, approximately 86 mi long, in South Dakota in the United States.It rises in southwestern South Dakota, in the Black Hills National Forest in the Black Hills in Pennington County. It flows east, is joined by Castle Creek, past Silver City and...

 and other creeks overflowing and flooded many residential and commercial properties around the Black Hills. During the night of June 9, the Canyon Lake Dam became clogged with debris and failed, resulting in 238 deaths and 3,057 injuries. Several bodies were never found. There were over 1,335 homes and 5,000 automobiles destroyed. The value of the damaged property was over US$160 million in 1972 dollars.

Reactions

One unidentified resident of Rapid City, which was flooded, spoke to a reporter after the flood.
"...the only thing above water is the hilltops. I guess it just ... I guess we gotta couple troubles."

Another survivor said:
"My house is no more. You can see it over there, there's the, well, there just isn't anything."

And another unidentified survivor added:
"A man knocked at our door and said, 'Get out as fast as you can.' We grabbed the children and my dad's crippled and we picked him up and put him in the car, and just as we drove out the driveway, a big trailer started floating right across the pathway, and we just made it up the hill and that was all it was. Everything was gone."

External links

• The Rapid City Public Library
  Rapid City Public Library
  The Rapid City Public Library is the system of public libraries in Rapid City, South Dakota. It has two locations, the downtown branch at 610 Quincy Street, and the North location at 10 Van Buren St...
  
  offers an online digital archive which collects audio and video recordings of survivors, written accounts and photos from survivors, as well as news broadcasts from the 1972 flood.