36 years later, locals remember Teton Dam flood
“At first, I think everybody thought, you know where do we even begin?” said Drue Palmer, the general foreman of Shelley.
On June 5, 1976, the Teton Dam’s wall seeped open of excess amounts of runoff snowmelt water from the teton mountains. About 85 percent of the town of Wilford was wiped out by 10 feet high floodwater. Rexburg’s Main Street was submerged under 7 feet of water. You might think that all hope would be lost after everything was completely washed away, but that wasn’t the case for these courageous communities and the help of a big-time company.
Rocky Mountain Power, formerly known as Utah Power and Light, is celebrating 100 years in the industry, and as David Eskelsen, the company spokesperson of Rocky Mountain Power said, the Teton Dam flood was one of the company’s historical milestones.
Eskelsen said, “When the flood happened, we began mobillizing the response at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Line workers quickly responded to the disaster that wiped out the Upper Valley. More than 1,000 poles had to be replaced along with 200 miles of wire had to be reinstalled. Line workers worked diligently to restore 35 percent of power to houses and businesses in just 8 days that remained standing after the flood.
Drue Palmer, the general foreman of Shelley, remembers the true heart and soul line workers had in restoring the power in eastern Idaho.
“And the crews that we brought in from out of town, you know, everyone was asked to go over the 100 percent, and nobody hesitated,” Palmer said.
The flood was shocking to many of the residents of the upper valley. Everyone knew the key to getting back to normal was getting eastern Idaho back on its feet. The current mayor of Rexburg, Richard Woodland, said he couldn’t be more proud of the city of the efforts into restoring what so many call home.
“I think we saw the best in the human spirit,” said Woodland. “When everybody came together and made the impossible happen. out of the mud and the debris and the dead animals- they put their town together again.”
Today, a newcomer would never know such a big flood hit the upper valley 36 years ago.
