The financial aftermath of the Teton Dam Failure

It’s been 40 years since the Teton Dam failed, many people lost their homes and 11 people died in the disaster.

The dam reportedly broke early in the morning on June 5, 1976.

A 30 foot wall of water roared down the canyon taking down the small city of Wilford, the flood waters also flowed down to nearby cities such as Sugar City and Rexburg. Five counties were also impacted by the flood.

Many people had to evacuate their homes and the aftermath of the disaster left many people homeless or living in their condemned homes.

The dam cost about $100 million to build, and the federal government paid over $300 million in claims related to its failure. Total damage estimates have ranged up to $2 billion. [5] The dam has not been rebuilt.

More than 180 square miles were inundated in water, 771 homes were destroyed, 3,002 homes were damaged, and 16,650 live stock were lost.

After the destruction occurred many different volunteers from across the United States lent a helping hand.

Different religious denominations came to the aid of the people who lost everything in the flood.

The federal government responded to the flood disaster and asked people to file claims for what they lost.

Marv Eld who was part of the Teton Interfaith Disaster Task Force recounts how many people from different faiths came together.

“We all got together and we all wanted to do what we could to respond to the flood, and we all did it in different ways,” Eld said.

Eld said after the flood occurred most people didn’t know how to handle the process of claiming what they lost.

“We as a Interfaith Task Force organized and trained teams and we worked for the first six months doing the claims for the Bureau of Land Management,” Eld said.

Eld said people weren’t ready to give an inventory of what they lost or didn’t know the value what they lost.

Once the claims were filed people did not know how to handle the taxes on the money they received from their claims.

“H & R Block said we don’t have a way to respond, we don’t know how to do your taxes if you were in the flood,” Eld said.

Eld took a year off work to volunteer, his home in Idaho Falls was left untouched by the flood.

“People came in buses from Montana to help clean up the mess, we had thousands of people working. The Roberts area was flooded, houses sat in water for two to three weeks. Roberts was a different situation,” Eld said.

Eld was awarded for his efforts by the L.D.S church for his volunteer efforts.

“I received the ‘Good Samaritian Award,’ for the work the Teton Interfaith did during the disaster,” Eld said.

Eld was also recognized by President Gerald Ford for his work with Teton Interfaith.