REXBURG, Idaho — As part of America's 250th celebration, Idaho News 6 is spotlighting historical events and locations in the great state of Idaho.
50 years ago, June 5, 1976, the Teton Dam gave out, sending floodwaters into the valley, devastating the communities of Rexburg, Sugar City and beyond.
WATCH: Teton Dam survivor describes the day the dam broke—
Anita Thompson Knapp is a Teton Dam survivor. She says as a young girl, it's a memory she'll never forget.
“It didn't look anything like I thought it should look. In the Hollywood movies, there's a big wave of water, and you think that's what you're going to see," Knapp recalled, "I saw something coming towards us, but it was a long, rolling dust cloud.”
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Knapp lived in the community of Hibbard, Idaho, just outside of Rexburg. She remembers June 5, 1976, like it was yesterday.
"It was a normal morning. My best friend lived across a potato field from me. I lived out in the country, and she called me, and she said, 'Hey, did you hear that the Teton Dam had broken?'” Knapp recounted.
The Teton Dam, an earthen dam on the Teton River, catastrophically failed, killing 11 people, wiping out thousands of livestock and costing the federal government more than 300 million dollars in claims.
The total damage was estimated at around two billion dollars.
"Consequently, my friend told me, 'Well, we're packing up our car, and we're going into Rexburg because on the radio they're telling everybody to evacuate,'” Knapp shared.
Almost two hours after the dam broke, a wave of water came down Main Street in downtown Rexburg, almost as high as the buildings. After the water had dispersed and settled, it was about 5 feet deep, and water markings are still visible on the Romance Theater at the corner of Center and Main Street.
Knapp describes seeing her mother come home as word spread of the catastrophe: "She'd heard the news on the radio in town, and she'd come back home."
She recalls how she felt seeing the water surge towards them, "But when I saw that water coming, when I was looking through the binoculars, that's when I actually started to feel a little bit of fear," Knapp said, "I saw that, the force of that just moving towards us ... I thought, that's just going to engulf us. It's going to completely surround us, which it did.”
Hours later, they heard the sound of a National Guard helicopter coming to rescue them.
"By then, the water had receded somewhat to a point where there were some pieces of ground, higher ground sticking up above the water. So this helicopter was able to land on this very small piece of ground that just happened to be higher than the rest of the farm. My dad was there, and I remember the look of relief on his face that we were safe."
An estimated 80% of existing structures were damaged in the Hibbard and Rexburg area.
According to the Department of the Interior, the dam failed due to a combination of the extensive fracturing in the surrounding wall rock and cracking in the internal, fine-grained sediment core of the dam. The dam has not been rebuilt.
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This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
