You think this year's rains were bad? The floods of 1938 were so epic they led to a massive re-engineering of the L.A. River that vastly reduced the ability to recharge groundwater.
Add another inch or two of rain in the late winter of 1938, and Angelenos would have been rounding up mountain lions and red-tailed hawks two by two, and shopping for enough gopherwood to float an ark.
Flood stories live in the warp and weft of legends and religions and nations — Gilgamesh, Noah, the Greeks and Aztecs, the Norse and Native Americans. Some of the 1938 flood accounts dwelled on our own pantheon: movie stars. Time magazine recited the inconvenienced celebrities: Lucille Ball’s wire-haired terrier turned up in her basement, swimming in 4 feet of water. Robert Taylor had to saddle up and ride two miles to get out of his flooded ranch near Chatsworth.
As for the ordinary folk of L.A., there were tales of heroes and victims. A milkman named Ray J. Henville made his rounds by rowboat. The reckoning of the damages: about a billion dollars in current-day values for farmlands ravaged, bridges, roads and rail lines destroyed, and about 1,500 houses washed off the map. Bad as it was, it’s a fraction of what today’s equivalent damages would be, with the county’s population four times larger than it was then.People stand along the banks of a gushing Los Angeles River depicted on a 1908 postcard from Patt Morrison’s collection.
Yankee L.A. was impatient with a river that didn’t pull its weight, unnavigable for goods or for people. In its capricious flows and floods, the river sometimes wandered far from anything like a deep-cut bed, and — its capital sin — chewed up valuable property and land. The river paving neatly solved several problems. It meant thousands of jobs during the Depression. It meant preventing another 1938 catastrophe. On the flood plain of southeast Los Angeles County, where farms had once flourished, towns grew up, protected by the Pharaonic-scale concrete walls of the “built” river.
And now, epochal drought is upon us, and sweeping away those trillions of gallons before our eyes seems profligate and a little bone-headed as Los Angeles pays to bring water from elsewhere.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
P-22 Library Cards Debut at all Los Angeles Public Library BranchesWhether you called this area 'the cat' as a kid or not, you knew that it was no stretch to say that your local library was a place packed with all sorts of catly things.
Read more »
New York Rangers' K'Andre Miller ejected for spitting on Los Angeles Kings' Drew DoughtyA reminder folks, never, ever spit on an opponent. New York Rangers D K'Andre Miller was ejected from Sunday's game for spitting on Los Angeles Kings D Drew Doughty and could face further discipline from the NHL.
Read more »
Team USA Beats Kenya in 13th-Place Semifinal of 2023 HSBC Los Angeles SevensTeam USA stormed back in the second half to beat Kenya 26-21 in the 13th-place semifinal of the 2023 HSBC Los Angeles Sevens on Sunday.
Read more »
Winners, Losers From 2023 HSBC Los Angeles SevensAfter two days of play, which teams excelled at the 2023 HSBC Los Angeles Sevens and which ones didn’t? Let’s recap it.
Read more »
Team USA Routs Japan, Finishes 13th in 2023 HSBC Los Angeles SevensTeam USA's homecoming at the 2023 HSBC Los Angeles Sevens didn't go to plan, but it ended on a solid note after routing Japan 31-7 in the 13th-place playoff game on Sunday.
Read more »
Artist Daniel Arsham’s ‘eroded’ vehicle exhibition cruises into Los AngelesArsham’s works featuring ‘eroding and decaying’ cars will be on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum through Nov. 26.
Read more »