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<br />The Ravishing of Rapid City <br /> <br />Known for its badlands, blJck hills and mountain monuments, <br />Rapid City, S. D. was thrust into new, unwanted prominence on <br />the night of June 9 when, after more than 10 inches of rain in <br />less than 24 hours, the city was devastated by flash floods. Sweep- <br />ing through the center of town, through suhurbs and Ibrough <br />outlying camping and resort areas, the raging waters left more <br />than 200 dead, 500 people unaccounted for and property <br />damages that were estimated to exceed $100 million. <br />In the town of 44,000 people about 80 blocks of paving were <br />ripped up by the Ilood, mud covered a liflh of the city, drinking <br />water was polluted, telephones and electricity were out and <br />thousands were bomeless. .. lacking food and c1otbing. Fires <br />caused by ruptured gas mains and fallen electric lines sprung up <br />and raged out of control. Houses swept by, riding wave crests <br />like surf boards. <br />The trouble began when the rain saturated the earth, and <br />flashing down the hillsides between 9 PM and 10 PM, caused <br />clear, placid streams to overrun their banks and crash through <br />the populated areas. Then, about midnight, Canyon Lake Dam in <br />a City Park gave way and unloosed a wall of water into tbe <br />town. It was tbis second, larger wave that did most of the <br />damage, according to residents. In its wake, it left a jumble of <br />cars, machinery, house trailers, homes and trees. <br />The city did receive a warning shortly before tbe first wave <br />struck. An unidentified man called tbe mayor and said, ". . . It <br />looks like you've got about 20 minutes." Mayor Donald Barnett <br />went to the local radio station to broadcast a warning to tbe <br />town people and sent out police with orders to warn people <br />along tbe creek to leave their homes. Radio stalions broadcast <br />repeated emergency warnings. <br />For a time all electric power and gas service in the area was <br />shut off. City water mains were closed down so officials could <br />check for contamination and citizens were warned nol to drink <br />water. Hospitals were notified to conserve water. <br />People were advised to stay in their homes, not make tele- <br />phone calls, and not to touch bodies seen i~ the water or on tbe <br />streets. An appeal was broadcast for tbe use of all boats. <br />Tbe western section of the city was the hardest hit, with flood <br />waters reacbing depths of ten feet in some places. Homes in <br />this area were washed away or severely damaged. Destruction <br /> <br />14 <br /> <br />was widespread and heavy. A GH floated down the street witb <br />people clinging 10 it, calling for help. In one trailer court, two <br />bundred mobile homes were swept away. Commercial radio <br />stations in the city were operating on Civil Defense bands <br />because most of their regular transmission facilities were <br />knocked out. <br />The telephone company reported beavy damage to its <br />equipment and said that phones of 15,000 subscribers were <br />inoperative. The remaining circuits were overloaded with <br />people across tbe nation trying 10 call in to determine the fate <br />of relatives or friends in the area. It was virtually impossible to <br />place a call into tbe city on the morning after the flood struck. <br />Only emergency calls were being made into or out of tbe city. <br />Little was known of the fate of some 4000 tourists believed to <br />be camping in the Black Hills over the weekend. One source <br />said they expected to be finding bodies in the hills all tbrough <br />the summer. <br />The Mayor's preliminary estimates were that 10 per cent of <br />the buildings in the city were lotally destroyed and that well over <br />50 per cent were damaged. <br />By dawn tbe rains began to subside. About 1,800 National <br />Guardsmen attending a summer camp joined the rescue force. <br />Police were ordered to arrest any sightseers and looters who <br />descended on the stricken city. The injured filled the city's <br />bospitals and overwhelmed medical facilities at nearby Ellsworth <br />Ai r force Base. <br />Airborne observers saw stranded victims waving scarves, <br />stones placed to srell out S.O.S., wbite sheets stretched to form <br />huge Xs on the ground. <br />But massive help arrived swiftly, as much from individuals <br />responding sponlaneollsly to the crisis as from relief agencies. <br />"We all live so far apart tbal we have to rely on each otber to get <br />along," explained a Rapid City banker. ^ rancher drove all <br />night from Wyoming, so bis radio-equipped truck could be used <br />in tbe rescue effort. A cbicken farmer donated his 16,000 birds <br />to belp feed tbe city. From up to 250 miles away, farmers witb <br />wells carried tanks of water to the town. Cbarles Russell, a <br />volunteer fireman from Mud Butte,S. D., repeatedly drove a <br />water-filled fire truck from Sturgis into Rapid City. <br />Tbe 50 members of a Red Cross disaster task force helped the <br />