Sanderson Flash Flood

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker in Terrell County sets down about the Sanderson Flash Flood. Now settle in, because this one does not go gentle. June 11, 1965.

A night of continuous rain had already soaked the ranching and railroad community of Sanderson down to its bones. Most folks had been up, watching the water rise, listening to the dark. And then, just after seven in the morning, it came.

A wall of water. Not a trickle, not a surge. A wall.

Moving at a hundred thousand cubic feet per second. You let that number sit for a moment. A hundred thousand cubic feet per second, cresting right down onto Sanderson like something had tipped a whole sky's worth of West Texas canyon water straight at the town.

Twenty-six people were killed. Around sixty homes were demolished. Dozens more were injured.

And when the water finally pulled back, it left behind a community full of people with nowhere to go home to. The force of that flood did not discriminate. It washed away railroad bridges.

It washed away highway bridges. It took those heavy steel rails, the kind that hold up freight trains, the backbone of a railroad town, and twisted them. Twisted them like they were nothing more than copper wire left in the sun.

But here is where the story turns, and you need to hear this part just as clearly as the rest. In the middle of all that destruction, there were individuals who ran toward the danger. People who risked their own lives to pull others to safety.

And the community, what was left standing of it, organized quickly to get relief to the victims. Sanderson had been hit by something almost incomprehensible. And Sanderson answered it with the only thing a community really has: each other.

That wall of water came on a June morning in 1965, and it is not forgotten.

What the marker says

On the fateful morning of June 11, 1965, just after 7:00 a.m. following a night of continuous rain, a wall of water with a velocity of 100,000 cubic feet per second crested upon the railroad and ranching community of Sanderson. Twenty-six were killed during the natural disaster, demolishing around sixty homes, injuring dozens and causing many to be homeless. The force of the water washed away railroad and highway bridges and twisted heavy steel rails. Along with the destruction, there were also acts of heroism. Individuals risked their lives to save others and citizens quickly organized to provide relief to victims. (2015)