GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Monday is the anniversary of a major flood that struck Oregon and the Pacific Northwest half a century ago.
The Christmas flood of 1964 eventually resulted in the deaths of 17 people in Oregon and caused hundreds of millions in property damage.
It was the result of heavy snow and then heavy rain running off ground left hard from freezing temperatures.
The National Weather Service has ranked it No. 5 among natural disasters in Oregon, right after the great Tillamook Burns of the 1930s.
The weather service calls it the most severe rainstorm ever over Central Oregon, and among the most severe over Western Oregon since the late 1870s.
Thousands of people were evacuated, hundreds of homes were destroyed and scores of bridges were damaged.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
