In 1942, Oregon built an entire city that grew to around 40,000 residents; six years later, a flood erased it from the map
Vanport, a temporary city that sprang up near Portland during World War II, was home to many shipyard workers, becoming Oregon’s second-largest city. However, in 1948, catastrophic flooding from the Columbia River, exacerbated by heavy rains and snowmelt, led to the dike failures that wiped the city off the map in mere hours, leaving only…
