USGS 1972 Flood Marker at Storybook Island, Rapid City, SD

Mark Anderson, Director of the USGS South Dakota Water Science Center, and Joel Petersen, USGS Hydologic Technician, placed a flood marker at Storybook Island in Rapid City, SD, in June 2012 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the devastating 1972 flood in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This historic flood set many record peak discharges that remain today, and the communities of Rapid City and Keystone were changed forever by the loss of life and property damage. The 1972 flash flood took 238 lives and was second only in U.S. history to the Johnstown, Penn. dam break flood in 1889 where 2,200 perished. The flood marker shows how high the water level was during the 1972 flash flood along Rapid Creek in western Rapid City downstream from Canyon Lake Dam.