The 1937 Billings Flood: The Disaster That Caught Billings Sleeping

After all the rain we got last weekend, I found myself thinking about one of the biggest floods ever to hit Billings. The 1937 flood happened in June, when families went to bed during a warm evening with no idea a furious storm was about to turn familiar streets into rushing waterways.

Then came the sound of water, overflowing creeks and canals, and even gunshots fired to warn neighbors that floodwater was moving through town.

The Billings flood of 1937 is remembered as one of the worst natural disasters in the city’s history. It wasn’t a slow moving river flood that gave people time to prepare. It was sudden, violent, and terrifyingly fast.

How Much Rain Fell During the June 1937 Billings Flood?

Billings had been unusually dry during the spring and early summer of 1937. Then, on the night of June 10 and into the early morning hours of June 11, the weather changed in a hurry.

Historical accounts from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis report that about four inches of rain fell in Billings and the surrounding area in 24 hours. Nearly three inches of that rain came down in less than two hours.

Think about how quickly water can collect along a curb during a heavy summer storm. Now imagine that kind of rain falling for hours off the Rimrocks, sending normally quiet creeks and irrigation ditches over their limits.

Canyon Creek and Alkali Creek swelled into raging waterways. Floodwater destroyed bridges and railroad lines, carried boulders onto Airport Road, and eventually rushed into downtown Billings and nearby neighborhoods.

Eyewitness Accounts: How Billings Residents Survived the Sudden Flash Flood

The flood caught people off guard because it came overnight.

George Wallis was 16 years old when the storm hit. In a local look back at the disaster, he remembered being awakened after hearing his dog crying, something the dog never normally did.

When Wallis went downstairs, he found water filling the basement. Outside, the water was already about two feet deep.

That is the part of this story that hit me when I read about it. Families didn’t have time to move furniture, grab valuables, or figure out what to do next. They woke up to frightened animals, worried neighbors, and water already inside their homes.

Newspaper accounts described people standing on porches watching cars, bicycles, trees, steps, and other debris float down city streets. In some places, floodwater carried hail into deep piles.

Improvised Emergency Alarms: How Neighbors Warned Each Other in 1937

As water moved quickly through neighborhoods, people fired shotguns to warn families that flooding was coming.

It’s hard to picture today, but there were no weather alert apps or cell phones lighting up on a nightstand. Neighbors had to rely on one another. A gunshot in the darkness meant someone needed to wake up immediately and get to safety.

Historic photos from the Billings Public Library collection show just how strange the city looked afterward. One image shows a man navigating downtown Billings in a canoe.

The Role of the “Big Ditch” and Local Creeks in the Flood

Breached irrigation ditches are one of the details many people associate with the 1937 flood.

On the night of June 11, several water filled ditches broke around town, including the main canal of the Billings Bench Water Association ditch. But Wallis noted that the so called Big Ditch was only part of what sent water into Billings.

Canyon Creek carried much of the water that reached downtown, while Alkali Creek also overflowed. The disaster was a destructive combination of intense rain, swollen creeks, broken ditches, and debris blocking the flow of water.

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Total Damage and Economic Impact of the 1937 Billings Flood

Historical reports estimate the flood caused $2 million in property damage in Billings. Farmers in Yellowstone County suffered another estimated $250,000 in crop losses.

Those numbers may not sound as shocking now, but during the height of the Great Depression, the financial hit was devastating. Adjusting for inflation, Billings’ property damage alone would equal tens of millions of dollars today.

The cleanup took weeks in some parts of the city. The water eventually went down, but the memory stayed with the people who lived through it.

For generations, Billings families simply called it “The Flood.” Nearly 90 years later, it remains a vivid reminder of how quickly a summer night can change the face of a city.