Christmas Flood of '64

This came from The Killer Eel, a photo essay of the "Christmas Flood" of December 1964 damage . The flood destroyed power lines, gas lines, roads, bridges, homes and businesses.

These are the photos of the Fortuna floodwaters. In the caption is the information that "For several hours all of South Fortuna was threatened and more that 1000 persons were evacuated from their homes."

Compared to the destruction elsewhere, the "Killer Eel" was kind to Fortuna.

The Killer Eel was published by the Humboldt Beacon [1965]. I found it in the Fortuna Library.

I also found a couple photos in one of the local papers. Could have been the Beacon, or one of the Eureka papers, Dec. 31 edition. Anyway, one photo was dark and the machine would only print a black or white square. Don't ask me. Here's the one that printed:

click images to enlarge

The caption on the other said, "WHY YOU ARE BOILING YOUR WATER -- this is just one photo of the Fortuna water pumping plant and the water which covered it during the flood waters last week. This was taken Tuesday and later the water went over the roof."