FLOOD CREST HITS BLACKFOOT; DEATH TOLL, LOSSES MOUNT.

Flood waters from Saturday's Teton Dam break crested in Blackfoot shortly before 4 a.m. today and have started to recede, after covering low-lying areas of that 8,700 person community with over 10 feet of water.
The flood waters, which have left in their wake six persons known dead, 80 injured, and at least 135 missing, are expected to enter the upper end of the American Falls Reservoir sometime this afternoon. That reservoir is approximately 25 miles downstream from Blackfoot.
The first confirmed death from the flood is DAVID BENSON, 21, of Teton, who was fishing when the waters struck.
The Teton Dam was 310 feet high and stretched 3,000 feet across the Teton River canyon. It was 35 feet wide at the crest. Approximately one-third of the $55 million Bureau of Reclamation Dam collapsed Saturday morning, sending a wall of water down the canyon that was over 15 feet high and at times over five miles wide.
Federal officials said aerial surveys indicated 450 farms, 700 homes, and 200 businesses were damaged or destroyed. State officials said 2,900 homes have been evacuated, with an estimated 4,500 persons spending Saturday and Sunday night in emergency housing in Rexubrg or with friends.
Late Saturday night, President Ford declared the flooded four counties -- Madison, Fremont, Bingham, and Bonneville -- a major disaster area. This cleared the way for emergency aid from federal agencies. Civil defense officials have released preliminary damage estimates of $55 million in Fremont County.
JOE WELCH, a special assistant to Idaho Gov. CECIL ANDRUS, said the Madison County Civil Defense Council had placed property loss at $540 million.
Crop losses in Eastern Idaho have already been estimated at $80 million. Livestock losses are placed at $4.9 million. These figures are expected to rise.
Damage to Union Pacific railroad tracks was estimated at $174 million. Damage to utility firms and telephone and electric lines has so far reached $20 million.
About 200 miles of Utah Power and Light Co. power lines were downed in the Rexburg area alone.
U. S. Commissioner of Reclamation GILBERT G. STAMM, an Idaho native, and assistant interior secretary JACK HORTON, arrived in Idaho Sunday and announced a two-pronged investigation. One will be led by federal Interior Department officials and the other by an independent blue ribbon panel of engineers.
Water from collapse of the 80-billion-gallon reservoir and earth-fill dam was recorded at a record height of 18.47 feet on Blackfoot stream gauges at 3:38 a.m. today. By 5:30 a.m. this morning, the water level had receeded to 18.16 feet. Normal water level for June is five feet and 10,000 cubic feet per second. Flood stage is said to be reached whenever the water reaches ten feet and 26,000 cubic feet per second.
Idaho State Journal correspondent ESTHER LAKE in Blackfoot said water in that city broke through a dike protecting lands along the Snake River. Rushing water quickly covered the Blackfoot golf course, municipal airport, Jensen Grove Park, and the Bingham Co-op of U. S. 26, the main highway to Arco.
Also partly or completely flooded in Blackfoot were the Riverside Plaze, the Treehouse Restaurant, and Valley Bank, all of which are below Highway 26.
Homes have been evacuated in the following Blackfoot areas, MRS. LAKE reports: Wooten Wayn, the Hanner Airport area, the Ponderosa Subdivision, the Parkway Drive area, The Temple addition, parts of Rose, Groveland, Riverside, Riverton Road, the Town and Country motor court, and the Idle WHeels trailer court.
Nearly two dozen dogs at the Bonneville County Animal Shelter and at the Kershaw Animal CLinic in Blackfoot were trapped by the flood waters for several days, MRS. LAKE said. The animals were rescued late this morning. The animal shelter is in the low-lying west side of Blackfoot.
MRS. LAKE says Blackfoot Disaster Control director ED BARRUS has urged residents in these outlying areas to boil or disenfect water. Tap water in the downtown Blackfoot area is still believed to be safe for drinking, but Blackfoot city officials Monday began putting additional chlorinators on the water supply system.
The twin-bridges area on the Snake River, immediately West of Interstate 15, is still threatened by the rushing water. A power line in this area carrying 46,000 killowatts has been knocked down, and Idaho Power Co. is requesting persons to stay out of the area.
Water in the Shelley-Firth area crested at approximately 11:30 p.m. Sunday night. FIrth Mayor AUSTIN BROWER had ordered evacuation at 3:30 p.m. Reports from the area say water covered the western half of Shelley reaching the community's high school and the sewage lagoon. Water has also reached the main street of this farming community of 2,614 persons.
In Idaho Falls, eye-witnesses report four feet of water covers the west side of town. This part of Idaho Falls is directly along the Snake River. The 17th Street bridge in Idaho Falls was dynamited late Sunday afternoon, to prevent water from backing up behind debris caught on the structure.
Destruction of the Broadway Street Bridge in Idaho Halls was considered Sunday evening, but water level on the Snake River began dropping and made this action unnecessary.
BLAIR SEIPERT, the police shief of Rexburg, one of the worst-hit cities, said the valley surrounding his city was now infested with rattlesnakes. The snakes were apparently washed downstream by the flooding, he said.
No persons have yet been bitten, he added.
Waters in Rexburg are reported to be receding, from a Saturday night high of over eight feet. Several fires, which were still burning early Sunday morning, have also been extinguished.
Typhoid innoculations are being given at Ricks College in Rexburg, which is sheltering many of the city's residents. Thousands of persons from Rexburg, a city of just over 8,000, fled to the high ground on which Ricks College is located to escape the rising waters.
The LDS Church, which is coordinating part of the relief efforts in the area, has used the church sponsored school as a base of operations for its food and clothing distribution efforts.
The interstate to Idaho Falls (I-15) is -- at last reports -- open to travel coming into the 36,000 person community. Travelers leaving Idaho Falls, however, are being detoured through Wapello, between Shelley and Firth, southeast of Idaho Falls.
In the Sugar City-St. Anthony area, hardest hit by the Teton Dam collapse, all roads are impassible. Thirty-foot cuts in the main road to Sugar City have have been reported.
Other roads closed include: Highway 48, Rigby to Roberts; Highway 88, Rexburg to Interstate 15; Sage Junction; Interstate 15, closed between Idaho Falls and Blackfoot, open to one-way traffic to Montana only above Idaho Falls.

Idaho State Journal Pocatello 1976-06-07
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!