| Survivor of the 1972 flood shares her traumatic experience |
| Thursday, 09 June 2011 15:35 |
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In the midst of one of the worst floods in the history of the United States, Magner clung to a roof of a house, desperately holding on for her life. She survived the horrific night that floodwaters swept through Rapid City but lost her brother, her mother and her father. Magner says, "I began to delve more into, ok what happened here? And why did it happen? And what has happed to me? I began a serious search and began traveling. I was in this sort of - what I call in the book - a ceaseless perpetual motion, if you will, trying to find understanding. And I thought if I could answer the why and un-wrap that question and find the answer, that I could somehow come to terms with it." The Journey Museum held a book-signing Thursday for Merlyn Magner's book "Come Into the Water; A Survivor's Story" where she details her traumatic escape from the 1972 flood. The man who was Rapid City's mayor at the time Don Barnett describes that night as a nightmare and shared his thoughts with attendees tonight as well. Barnett says, "That whole night was just an absolute night of terror and the next morning when it quit raining there finally descended upon the city the fog, the clouds just seemed to drop to the ground and then it was sort of like a fog, cloud of death all over the city of Rapid City." Magner's book, "Come Into the Water," can be purchased at most bookstores. Tessa Thomas |
