The Sanderson Flood of 1965: Crisis in a Rural Texas Community

At approximately five minutes after seven o’clock early Friday morning on the eleventh of June 1965, a flash flood tore through the small town of Sanderson, Texas. The disaster hit while most people were either getting up for breakfast or conversing over a cup of coffee in one of the local cafes.

A 15-foot wall of water slashed its way through the awakening community and broadened into a quarter mile path of chaos and destruction. Entire city blocks were washed away as the powerful hydrolics demolished wood frame and adobe structures as if they were composed of cheap pottery.