50 years later: The Duluth flood
FILE - A look back at the damage from the 1972 Duluth flood. (WDIO-TV)
Saturday marks 50 years since a flood wreaked havoc in the city of Duluth.
Hubbard Broadcasting sister station WDIO-TV is looking back at the event, which caused $12 million in damages.
It started with severe storms moving through the area early in the morning of Aug. 20, 1972. Within 24 hours, the city had gotten around three inches of rain, which flooded and washed out streets, sending a mass of debris down the Duluth hill.
President Richard Nixon later declared the area a federal disaster site and the National Guard was called in to help with the cleanup.
The flood was long considered the city’s worst flash flood until June 2012, when the city received seven inches of rain in a day.