Teton Dam Collapse 40 Year Anniversary

Massive flooding, 11 deaths, 35,000 people evacuated and the destruction was indescribable.

Sunday marks the forty year anniversary the Teton Dam in eastern Idaho failed.  It was June 5, 1976 around noon when the sudden burst of water killed 11 people, 13,000 head of cattle, destroyed over 120 homes, and caused over $2 billion of damage.  This all took about five minutes.

This is still the only man-made federal disaster in the history of Idaho.  The government paid out over $322 million in claims over an 11 year span.

Small leaks became bigger leaks that were left unattended which quickly turned into gaps that grew into a full blown breach.  The sad thing is, we had warnings and did nothing.  Two days before the dam broke water was rushing out at the rate of 100 gallons per minute.  By the morning of the break that had turned into 50 cubic feet per second.

At 10:43 a.m. the dam notified the Fremont and Madison County Sheriff Offices that dam failure was a surety.  At 11:57 a.m.  it was all over.  The dam broke.  Wilford was the first community to get hit by water rushing 3 miles wide and 6 miles long.  Sugar City came next, then Rexburg, and finally Hibbard.

Over 3,000 people instantly became homeless.  They never found any of their belongings.  Today, we remember the devastation, the sadness, and the tireless efforts of unnamed heroes that saved lives.  Thank you!