Wow... Never Heard about this SuperStorm.... Repeat Possible? .....In Southern California, beginning on December 24, 1861, it rained for almost four weeks for a total of 35 inches at Los Angeles. In the San Gabriel Mountains the mining town of Eldoradoville was washed away by flood waters.[17] The flooding drowned thousands of cattle and washed away fruit trees and vineyards that grew along the Los Angeles River. No mail was received at Los Angeles for five weeks. The Los Angeles Star reported that: The road from Tejon, we hear, has been almost washed away. The San Fernando mountain cannot be crossed except by the old trail ... over the top of the mountain. The plain has been cut up into gulches and arroyos, and streams are rushing down every declivity.[18] The plains of Los Angeles County, at the time a marshy area with many small lakes and several meandering streams from the mountains, were extensively flooded, and much of the agricultural development which lay along the rivers was ruined. In most of the lower areas small settlements were submerged. These flooded areas formed into a large lake system with many small streams and a few more powerful currents cut channels across the plain and carried the runoff to the sea. At Santa Barbara County the narrow coastal plains were flooded by the rivers coming out of the mountains, and the town of Ventura was abandoned. In San Bernardino County, all the fertile riverside fields and all but the church and one house of the New Mexican colony of Agua Mansa, were swept away by the Santa Ana River, which overflowed its banks. The ringing church bell on the night of January 22, 1862 alerted the inhabitants to the approach of the flood, and all escaped.[19] Downriver in Los Angeles County, (including what is now Orange County) the flooding Santa Ana River created an inland sea lasting about three weeks with water standing 4 feet (1.2 m) deep up to 4 miles (6 km) from the river.[14] In February 1862, the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers merged. Government surveys at the time indicated that a solid expanse of water covered the area from Signal Hill to Huntington Beach, a distance of approximately 18 miles (29 km). In San Diego a storm at sea, backed up the flood water running into the bay from the San Diego River, resulting in a new river channel cut into San Diego Harbor. The continuous heavy downpour also changed the look of the land, the previously rounded hills were extensively cut by gulleys and canyons.[20] To the north, in the Owens Valley, similar snow and flooding conditions as those to the east in Aurora, lead to the local Paiute suffering the loss of much of the game they depended on. Cattle newly driven into the valley to feed the miners, competed with the native grazers and ate the native wild plant crops the Paiute depended on to survive. Starving the Paiute began to kill the cattle and conflict with the cattlemen began, leading to the subsequent Owens Valley Indian War.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 09:15:50 +0000
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