Oregon's Second Largest City Vanished in 2 Hours #shorts

On Memorial Day 1948, nearly 19,000 people in Vanport, Oregon were told the dikes were safe. That afternoon, Oregon's second largest city was underwater in under two hours. Built by Henry Kaiser in 110 days to house WWII shipyard workers, Vanport once held 40,000 people — the largest public housing project in the US, deliberately built outside Portland's city limits to keep Black workers out of the city itself. The flood killed at least 15 people and left 18,000 homeless overnight. Today the site is Delta Park, the Portland International Raceway, and Heron Lakes Golf Course. Almost nothing marks what happened there. Part of the Forgotten Towns series — abandoned places, lost communities, and settlements erased by time. ⏱ CHAPTERS 0:00 The notice that said "don't worry" 0:07 The dike breaks 0:13 Why Vanport existed 0:25 Segregation by design 0:35 The flood 0:41 What's there now 🔔 New Forgotten Towns documentaries weekly — subscribe for more. 💬 What forgotten town should we cover next? Drop it in the comments. #Vanport #Oregon #GhostTown #ForgottenTowns #History #PortlandHistory #Flood1948 #AbandonedPlaces #OregonHistory