Men and the few women in that part of town, employees of the cook camp, abandoned their possessions and ran straight up the mountain side, seeking only to get above the tide.

Their houses were swept away like cheese boxes.

Logs were crushed together like straws.

The sound of it all made human speech inaudible anywhere close to the water's edge.
The east half of the dam, that closer to the camp, still held.

The buildings here were still under the dam--a mass of water fifty feet in height rose above them, would come through if that portion of the dam broke.