The newly developed 648-acre complex called Vanport before the
flood. It was the largest public housing project in the United States.

It was on this day, Memorial Day in 1948, the Columbia River forced it’s way
through an embankment that had served as a dike and rushed into a local
shipbuilding housing project called Vanport. The flood killed 15 people and 
left 18,000 homeless when the community vanished in just one day. 

The area today is called Delta Park, along the Columbia River in Portland,
Oregon’s northern edge, a location of public parks, nature preserves and
sports complexes.

Vanport, Oregon                                                     (Oregon Historical Society)

The public housing project Vanport was destroyed at 4:05 P.M. on Sunday
May 30,1948, when a 200-foot section of a dike holding back the Columbia
River collapsed during a flood, killing 15 people. Oregon’s second largest
city vanished in a day. The area is currently the site of Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway north of the city of Portland.

The city of Vanport in 1943