New film about Teton Dam disaster shown at Rexburg theater on 9/11 anniversary
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REXBURG – Hundreds gathered at the Romance Theater in Rexburg on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for an official screening of a new documentary about the Teton Dam Flood.
“Flood of Memories” is a 40-minute film highlighting first-person accounts of the June 5, 1976 disaster that killed 11 people, about 15,000 livestock and destroyed or damaged homes and tens of thousands of acres of land.
Filmmaker Christian Mawlam collaborated with Brigham Young University religious historian Fred Woods for the project. About 20 people were interviewed for the film. One of those people is Terri Hill, who works as the HR director for the city of Rexburg.
RELATED | New documentary on the Teton Dam Flood to premiere in Rexburg Monday
Her brother, David, and his friend, Darrell Griggs, had gone fishing that morning and were pummeled by a giant wave of water. Hours after it flooded the valley, she remembers driving to the water’s edge in Teton with her parents and seeing someone stuck in a tree.
They called out and learned it was Darrell.
“He was yelling back to us, ‘It’s just me.’ My dad radioed and got help. They sent out a boat and we watched them rescue Darrell,” Hill says in the film. “That night was a very sleepless night and communication was very poor because phone lines were down.”
Hill’s dad and other members of the community later went out in boats and searched the area for David. It’s not clear how much time surpassed, but at one point they looked out and saw David’s hair in the brush.
Hill recalled with tears how she felt when they found her brother’s body.
“What a great blessing that they found his body,” she said, crying. “Truly, it was an answer to prayer … and we were able to … put his body to rest.”
Hill explained many vehicles were buried in the flood that still haven’t been found. The fact that David’s body wasn’t buried is a miracle, she said.
The film ends on a religious note, with many recounting how people from different denominations came to help with the cleanup. Locals have fond memories of Spencer Kimball, then president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, arriving in a helicopter to minister to those in need.
Though Hill was one of the few who lost a family member that day, she explains in the documentary that many more people lost their homes and it was a healing experience for her to lend a helping hand to neighbors and friends.
That theme of helping others in troubled times is something that resonates with Mawlam. Though the flood happened on June 5, he and Woods felt it was an appropriate message to share on 9/11 specifically.
“Both were man-made disasters,” Mawlam tells EastIdahoNews.com. “We know on this day of days there were people who ran away from the buildings (following a terrorist attack) and there were others who ran towards them, asking what can we do to help? You have the same … human family instinct happening (with the Teton Dam story).”
It’s that response that Mawlam says is more important than the tragedy.
“The thing that’s worth remembering (from both of these events) is how the worst of days brings out the best in people,” he says.
Mawlam and Woods started collaborating on this project several years ago after Woods had reached out to the city of Rexburg about it. Woods is working on a larger project for BYU called “Saints by State.” The project highlights stories of Latter-day Saints in every state who work side-by-side with other denominations and face hardships with faith. This documentary is included in that.
As the city looks forward to the 50th anniversary of the disaster three years from now, Mawlam explained to Monday’s crowd there was some urgency to do this project.
“Some folks (who lived through it) are getting closer to retirement,” he jokes, referring to death. “We wanted to make sure we captured those stories so that future generations in Rexburg … will be able to know something about their people.”
The duo is grateful to those who attended the screening. The film will be available at the Museum of Rexburg soon, as well as the Teton Flood Museum.
WATCH A TRAILER OF THE FILM IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.