The
Willamette Valley Flood of 1996 was part of a larger series of
floods in the
Pacific Northwest of the
United States which took place between late January and mid-February 1996. It was
Oregon's largest flood event in terms of fatalities and monetary damage during the 1990s. The floods spread beyond Oregon's
Willamette Valley, extending west to the
Oregon Coast and east toward the
Cascade Mountains. Significant flood damage also impacted the American states of
Washington,
Idaho (particularly the north of the state) and
California. The floods were directly responsible for eight deaths in Oregon, as well as over US $500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest. Three thousand residents were displaced from their homes.