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Considered a 100-year flood, [2] it was the worst flood in recorded history on nearly every major stream and river in coastal Northern California and one of the worst to affect the Willamette River in Oregon. It also affected parts of southwest Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. [1] [3]
This flooding prompted flood control measures to be built along the Willamette River. [48] This major flood between December 18, 1964, and January 7, 1965, [ 49 ] also impacted portions of southwest Washington , Idaho , Nevada , and especially northern California .
The deadly Christmas flood of 1964, which would kill 47 people during the holiday season, began with a powerful Pacific Ocean storm that brought record snowfalls in northern California, Oregon and Washington, with accumulations of up to 10 feet (3.0 m) in Oregon's Cascade Mountains.
The Willamette River (/ w ɪ ˈ l æ m ɪ t / ⓘ wil-AM-it) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is 187 miles (301 km) long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States.
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Extremes outside the period of record include flood maximums during the roughly 110 years before the Morrison Bridge gauge was put in place. The biggest recorded Willamette River flood, the Great Flood of 1861, [27] produced a much larger maximum, 635,000 cubic feet per second (18,000 m 3 /s), in downtown Portland than that of the 1996 flood. [28]
The Willamette River in the northern section of the valley. The Willamette Valley is prone to periodic floods. Notable floods include the Great Flood of 1862, events in 1899, the Christmas flood of 1964, and the Willamette Valley flood of 1996. Part of its floodplain is a National Natural Landmark called the Willamette Floodplain.
Two years later, in 1964, the Christmas week flood hit the Willamette hard. Six campgrounds were fully destroyed, and seven more were damaged. Roads, bridges, and culverts were also lost. The passage of the Wilderness Act earlier that year created new wilderness areas and controversy over the management for the new areas.