a day ago
Remember the 1972 Flood 53 years later
Rapid City, S.D. (KELO) — 53 years ago, on June 9th and 10th, the Rapid City tragedy that was the 1972 Flood destroyed portions of the city along Rapid Creek.
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Thousands of people were injured, and thousands of homes and businesses were also damaged. 238 people lost their lives.
The damages then totaled $165 million, which today would be around a billion dollars.
'And I just remember everyone pulling together afterwards to go out and do rescues and help out the community. Providing areas where people could get food and clothing and things like that. A lot of people lost everything that they had,' Rapid City Parks and Rec Director Jeff Biegler said.
This flood led to close to 700 acres of greenway, something groups want to preserve in remembrance.
'But the outcome of that is this beautiful greenway that we have that runs through town. So not only is it here for fun but it;s also a safety measure. Because it's not a matter or a case of if but when the next flood occurs and it's here to help absorb some of that water,' Friends of Rapid City Parks Vice-Chair Chris Stover said.
Along Rapid Creek, you can see 14 signs that tell the story of the flood as it traveled through town from Braburn to the fairgrounds.
'There are signs that will have photographs on it of what was here before the flood and then a lot of information on what happened during the flood. It is a startling image of what we lost from the flood,' Biegler said.
In some areas, the water reached up to 12 feet high in just a few hours.
'We believe that if people are out enjoying the greenway we can use that as an opportunity to be able to educate as to why this greenway even exists and for people to understand the lives that were lost, but that sacrifice gave us really what makes Rapid City one of the special places to be,' Stover said.
The Friends of Rapid City Parks will host its 2nd annual Greenway Days starting Friday night through Sunday to educate and celebrate the greenways resulting from that flood.
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