LOS ANGELES PHOTO GALLERY
L.A. RIVER FLOOD
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HISTORY
City engineer William Mulhollandonce described the Los Angeles River
as a beautiful little stream
with willows on it's banks.
But periodic flooding
was an ongoing danger
to the Los Angeles basin,
(espacially during the rain seasons
of 1825, 1832, 1861, 1884 and 1914)
so today the Los Angeles River
is a 60-mile cement-lined flood channel
leading from Canoga Park
to the Long Beach Harbor.
The fall of the river was between 16
and 23 feet per mile and his velocity
and destructive power
was carrying away orchards,
vineyards, sheds
and agricultural fields.
Construction begun in 1938
and today 40% of the river is dammed,
with the Sepulveda Flood Control Dam
and the HANSEN DAM
as main barriers to the stream's flow.
Today environmentalists
propose a rehabilitation of the banks
with nature trails and parks
as recreation area for all.
Los Angeles River headwaters at the confluence of Arroyo Calabasas and Bell Creek.
Calabasas Creek begins near the Leonis Adobe with the merging of Dry Canyon Creek
from the Santa Monica Mountains and McCoy Canyon Creek from a Simi Hills watershed.
LOS ANGELES RIVER & BRIDGES
The small concrete riverbed at Canoga Avenue. The initial Bell a.k.a. Escorpion Creek
headwaters in the Simi Valley Hills are on the property of Rocketdyne's Santa Susana
Field Laboratory, then the water flows through Bell Canyon.
L.A. River flood during the 2003 rain season as seen from a bridge near Griffith Park
Looking south, the flooding looks very dangerous
Los Angeles River flood control channel at Main Street bridge looking south
Cement-lined flood channel at the 4th Street bridge
Los Angeles River in the City of Vernon
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