Author reflects on his experience of the Flood of 1972

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Rapid City is nearing the anniversary of the Flood of 1972. 52 years after the devastation that killed more than 200 people, Darren Koehne, a survivor of the flood, has written his story reflecting on that night.

Koehne recalls the inspiration for writing his book “Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All”, and says it’s a story 50 years in the making.

“My fifth-grade teacher told me I should write a book after reading an essay I wrote about what I did that summer. Fast forward 50 years, I saw a news story from Utah, in which the state approved 12 million dollars for cloud seeding research in 2022. It inspired me to delve into a book by the National Disaster Institute regarding the flood and the science behind cloud seeding experiments. I then started to reflect on my experience, and decided to write about it,” Koehne says.

When looking back on that night, he remembers one point in particular that has stuck in his brain for years since the incident.

“I had to go to the bathroom and told my mom I had to go pee while we were sitting on the house’s roof. She told me to just wet my pants, but I said I couldn’t do that, and I needed some privacy. She then told me to go around the chimney we were huddled against. When I went around the chimney and saw how wide the path of water was, it was the most terrifying thing I had seen at the time. I had the thought of ‘We aren’t going to make it through this.’ I was truly horrified,” Koehne recalls.

“It’s just a miracle we survived. I believe there is a god and he walked us through those waters that night. My family had been in a car that got washed away, and my dad had to carry my brother and I, upstream through the water, along with my mom on his back to get us to the house we took refuge on. It was just a miracle we all got through it.”

When asked how this experience has impacted his life, Koehne says that is rather simple.

“I feel fortunate that at 10 years old, I was able to realize you never know when your last day is going to be, and it has led me to live each and every day to the fullest,” Koehne says.

This is the first book Koehne has written, and he has a message for anyone who may be thinking of writing a book in the future.

“The biggest challenge is getting started, getting your ideas down on that first page, but once I got started, it just flowed,” he says.

If you’re interested in reading “Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All”, the book is available on Amazon and Kindle. Koehne will have a book signing on the 52nd anniversary of the flood of 1972 this Sunday, June 9, at Books-A-Million on Haines Avenue in Rapid City, and copies of the book will be for sale there as well.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KEVN. All rights reserved.