The 1957 Flood

The area around Lampasas drains to the Sulphur Creek basin, where the stream crosses the town from the southwestern edge to the east side and meets Burleson Creek and other branches. Floods had struck the town throughout its history, including notable earlier floods in 1873, 1936, and 1944. After the 1944 flood, city officials dredged the creek and built earthen levees, but those measures did not prepare the town for the disaster that followed. In 1957, after a long drought, heavy rainfall fell across Texas. On May 12, 1957, just two weeks after an earlier rise, sustained downpours caused water to collect in the upper Sulphur Creek headwaters, then rush into downstream tributaries and spill over the banks. Through the night of Mothers Day, floodwaters tore through the center of Lampasas, smashing into stores and houses, washing away cars and other property, and leaving the flat tops of buildings around the square as islands of safety for trapped people. Residents struggled to save themselves and their families, and five people died. Afterward, the citizens regrouped and rebuilt, businesses reopened within months, and the destruction and loss of life prompted new flood control measures, making the Mothers Day Flood of 1957 a turning point in the planning, development, and history of Lampasas.

Lampasas, Texas · United States