By late evening the water has backed up nearly to the top of the earthen berm, forming a reservoir of water backing up to the west. A train comes along the tracks. The water is lapping at the top of the embankment. The tremendous force of the backed-up water begins to swiftly erodes away the berm, causing the train to derail. A wall of water rushes through the trailer court on the downstream side of the embankment.
Mobile homes begin to float and move downstream.
In the catastrophe that follows five women loose their lives. One of them is rescued and then, trying to save a pet, jumps into the raging waters to her death. Crumpled mobile homes jam and block the bridge under the main avenue. The sheer amount of water flowing down Spring Creek, including overflow runoff from the campus, is staggering. The USGS estimates that over 8000 cubic feet per second was flowing behind the earthen berm, a significant portion of it coming from the college campus.