Vanport - the city wiped out by the 1948 flood

Vanport was a wartime housing project built in 1942 on the Columbia River lowlands between Portland and Vancouver to house shipyard workers. On May 30, 1948, a dike breach flooded and destroyed most of Vanport within hours, displacing more than 18,000 residents. The event eliminated Vanport as an inhabited city; estimates of the death toll vary and remain debated. The Oregon Historical Society holds archives and has staged exhibits documenting Vanport's history and the 1948 flood.