CLAIRE ROYAL, MARIAN ANDERSON, and Bill Nakagawa of Arboga, California — a retired elementary-school teacher, a grandmother married to the local levee manager, and a veteran of World War II — lived very different lives and probably would never have been mentioned together had the three of them not been killed in the same disaster. On January 2, 1997, a levee burst, and flood waters destroyed their town. When officials finally took stock, they found that the flood not only had ended these lives but also had forced over 32,000 people from their homes and covered 25,000 square miles, wrecking property and wildlife habitat and drowning over 600 head of livestock.

And the tragedy had a further disturbing twist. Since 1990, federal officials had known that a flood would wreak such havoc in Arboga and had urged that the levee receive immediate attention. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had reported, “Loss of life is expected under existing conditions, without remedial repairs, for major flood events.” Other officials, however, with other priorities, blocked repairs while the danger grew.