The following group of 5 photographs were taken after the catastrophic Teton River (Idaho) Dam failure that occurred on June 5, 1976. The earthen dam was 305 feet high and held back a 17 mile-long reservoir. The dam breach resulted in the worst man-made disaster in Idaho’s history.
Two small Idaho towns downstream from the Teton River Dam, Wilford and Sugar City, were wiped from the map in the flood by a 10 foot-high wall of water. Thousands of farm animals were drowned as were several people. The towns of Hibbard, Rexburg and Roberts were also largely flooded, as was Idaho Falls. In some places houses were under as much as 10 feet of water.
