The major flooding took place on a Sunday. Despite anticipating the calamity, there wasn't much people could do to stop the devastation of nature. A dairyman named Stoltz attempted to cross the Arroyo Seco early in the morning. The water took his life, along with his two horses, wagon, and milk cans. A huge cloudburst had hit the front range above Glendale. The Los Angeles River overtopped its banks, destroying several acres of the Griffith Ranch. It broke the Aliso Street bridge and carried part of it downstream to the First Street bridge. This blockage caused the river to flow into the city, severely flooding blocks of houses, washing away many along the banks. Three hours later the First Street Bridge finally collapsed under pressure from the debris. The channel had shifted and started eating away at the west bank near a damaged covered bridge. This event wiped out dozens of homes. Afterward hundreds of men took part in a heroic effort to redirect the watercourse using heavy sandbags.
The
Herald called it a "Great Flood."
Imagine the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers joining around Bell Gardens and flowing together for the remaining fifteen miles to the Pacific Ocean. That would have been some sight indeed.
Also, the paper reported fifteen feet of snow in the local mountains, which was more than anyone could remember at the time.
And finally, in addition to all the natural marvels associated with this storm, there was a particularly weird man-made one.
Because of this storm and the damage it caused, the
Herald revisited its calls for the construction of a levee along the Los Angeles River.
Unfortunately the river would not be fully tamed until after the flood of 1938 and concretization of the channel.
