Smallest Ghost Town In America Left in Shambles After Iowa Flood

Iowans are no strangers to some devastating weather events.

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A town that's just less than one square mile wide transformed into a ghost town overnight after a major weather disaster in the early 2000s. There are 26 "ghost towns" in the state of Iowa, and this one might be the smallest.

Elkport is located between two rivers; Volga and Turkey. The mouth of Elk Creek actually empties out into the Turkey River on the eastern side of town, and a bit to the north of town the Volga River empties out into the Turkey River.

These rivers played a key role in the destruction of the Clayton County town.

The Volga River flooded in May of 2004 and basically destroyed the infrastructure of the town. All of the residents were evacuated to a higher part of the small town and neighboring, according to reports. 

All that was left was the old community center and church according to reports.

Instead of rebuilding much of the town's buildings, the townspeople accepted a federal buyout. Right before the flood struck the town, the population of the town was a little more than a hundred. According to the most recent census, there are 29 people who still live in the town.

Many of the fixtures that did remain in this small community were eerily left abandoned. Two years after the flood left many of these homes unlivable, a demolition team went into the town and crushed 27 homes and the majority of the town's other buildings, according to Radio Iowa.

Check out what the town looked like before the flood down below.