Portland, Oregon was a major shipbuilding center during World War II. As many as 100,000 people were employed in the shipyards there. Thousands of people flocked to Portland, many of them African-Americans who had moved to the Northwest from the South. The huge influx of people created a huge housing shortage. Vanport City was a federal housing project built on 650 acres along the banks of the Columbia River north of Portland. As many of 40,000 workers lived in the city during the war. After the war, layoffs thinned the population, but 19,000 workers still lived in Vanport City in 1948.

Despite the fact that the settlement was on the largest river in the western United States, there was little concern about the possibility of flooding. The winter of 1947-48 produced heavy snowfall amounts in the upper Columbia River basin. Warm temperatures that spring caused rapid melting of the snow pack, and rivers and streams quickly jumped their banks. Despite the rising water, there was still little concern. On Sunday, May 30, 1948, a dike, which supported a rail track on the west side of the housing development, suddenly collapsed. The crevasse widened from six feet to sixty feet and then to five hundred feet wide. It only took two hours to flood the entire city.

The following day, the dike on the eastern side of town collapsed also, sealing the town’s fate. There was almost no warning for the town’s 19,000 residents. Twenty five people drowned. The residents of the town lost all of their personal belongings, most escaping with just the clothes n their backs. 10,000 homes were destroyed. Damage totaled $21 million. Vanport would never be rebuilt. The area is now a flood mitigation zone with parks and golf courses.

It was still raining over a good part of Alabama tonight but, for the most part, it was light to moderate rain. Some of the heaviest had moved into West and NW Georgia.

There will be a series of disturbances over the next few days bringing good amounts of rain to Alabama.

2.62 inches of rain fell at Birmingham Airport Sunday bringing the May total to 4.55 inches. This cut our deficiency for the year to 3.49 inches. It had been well over 5 inches.

A large area of rain will be moving across Central Alabama late this afternoon and thie evening. However, the line of thunderstorms will be moving into rain-cooled air and will likely not be severe.

The stronger thunderstorms are further south...approaching the Montgomery area.

Lots of rain still ahead for places like Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Anniston.

Checked with the Hale County Sheriff's Office in Greensboro at 4:55 pm. They report nothing but rain when the line of thunderstorms moved through town.

At 4:50 pm, the line of strong to possibly severe thunderstorms in West and Central Alabama extended from north of Eutaw in Greene County down across Central Hale County north of Greensboro...into dallas County near Selma and into Lowdnes County.

The line of storms moving NE rather rapidly at some 40 mph.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for a few more minutes for Hale and Perry.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
PERRY COUNTY IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF MARION
MARENGO COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF DEMOPOLIS
HALE COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF GREENSBORO

* UNTIL 500 PM CDT

All of this occurred this afternoon as a line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved NE across Southern Mississippi (Some of these storms are now moving into West Alabama)

.....Large tree limbs blown off in Madison.

.....Just before 2:00 p.m., numerous trees were uprooted in Bay Springs in Jasper County. Also in Jasper County, in Heidelderg, a tree fell on a power line and both fell on a car. Still in Jasper County, hail the size of quarters at Stringer.

.....Trees and power lines down across Lawrence County including the Monticello area.

.....Numerous trees and power lines down in Ellisville in Jones County.

.....Numerous trees and power outages reported in Hattiesburg. One-inch diameter hail also reported.

Alll of these reports courtesy of the National Weather Service, Jackson.

(Please scan down to see additional information on other posts.)

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Sumter and Marengo County in West Alabama until 4 pm. The thunderstorms moving NE at 45 mph.

This warning includes Linden, Demopolis, York and Livingston.

Scan down for earlier posts that also contain valid information.

Rain over the northern part of Alabama has diminished and broken up into mostly patches of light rain.

Main thing to watch now is a line of strong thunderstorms from Central Mississippi, curving down across the Meridian area into SW Alabama's Washington and Choctaw counties. It is pouring in that area. This line of storms moving NE.

The Storm Prediction Center corrected the Severe Thunderstorm Watch to also include Mobile and Baldwin County. So there are now four extreme SW Alabama counties...the other two, Choctaw, Washington.

Two East Mississippi Counties (Kember and Neshoba) under a Flash Flood Warning. Part of that area got 3 to 5 inches of rain last night and early today.

Individual strong thunderstorms are also approaching Wilcox and Dallas County in Alabama.

IMMEDIATE BIRMINGHAM AREA:
Most of Jefferson County getting a break from the rain...light rain extends from north part of the county NE into Blount County...moving NE.

Scan down to see some rainfall totals so far. Thise have changed little during the last few hours.

Since it has been so dry for a time, let's go first to a roundup of Alabama rainfall amounts as of 1 o'clock this afternoon:

1.21 inches at Tuscaloosa Airport
2.17 at Birmingham Airport
1.55 in NE Trussville
2.14 SE of Trussville (toward Leeds)
1.26 at Shelby County Airport
1.18 in Greystone Cove (report from James Spann)
1.15 at Ashland (Clay County)
1.43 at Anniston Airport
1.58 at Anniston (Alabama Power Co, report)
1.18 at Bald Rock (St. Clair County near Cook Springs)
1.18 at Logan Martin Dam
1.34 at Cordova (Walker County)
1.55 at Hollins (Clay County)
1.04 at Newell (Randolph County)
0.70 in Oneonta
1.10 in Pell City

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 8 O'CLOCK TONIGHT FOR:
Extreme SW Alabama
Extreme SE Arkansas
North and NE Louisiana
Central and South Mississippi
Only two SW Alabama counties included (Choctaw and Washington)

HOW ALABAMA LOOKS AT 1:45 PM:
Raining from about the Fayette-Birmingham-Talladega-Roanoke line northward but mostly light to a few areas of moderate. No rain from Shelby County south to the coast at this time. There is a line of strong to severe thunderstorms across South Mississippi moving NE. Some individual storms ahead of the main line now entering West Alabama south of Livingston.