A Rapid City committee studying floodplain development rules got a near unanimous message Monday night: Don't relax regulations, tighten them.

The committee of citizens and officials was assembled earlier this year after condominiums were proposed for property west of Canyon Lake, near Rapid Creek. The area was hit hard by the 1972 flood, which killed 238 people.

The developer withdrew that plan, but it would have complied with the current rules. The floodplain committee will recommend new rules to the Rapid City Council in December.

About 30 people attended the public-comment meeting at the Journey Museum. Several survivors of the 1972 flood spoke.

Dr. Ray Burnett described driving on West Main Street about midnight on June 9, 1972, trying to get to the city's old hospital to deliver two babies.

When Burnett got to the Gap, where Rapid Creek runs through a break in the Hogback Ridge, 8 inches of water was washing across the road. "Suddenly the cars in front of me stopped," he said. "We saw a 4-foot wall of water coming towards us."

Burnett's truck was swept to the side of the torrent. The people in front of him perished.

Burnett urged the committee to recommend prohibiting construction in flood-hazard zones.

"It's going to happen again," Burnett warned. "If anything, we should tighten restrictions."

The Rapid City Floodplain Development Policy Committee will accept written comments through Oct. 1. Mail them to the Rapid City Growth Management Department, 300 Sixth St., Rapid City, S.D. 57701. Submit online comments to the city's Web site at www.rcgov.org

The committee meets next at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, in the Third Floor West conference room at 300 Sixth St.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or at bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com