Comments on: The Anaheim Flood of 1938

The Anaheim Flood of 1938

huskerdont — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:09:39 -0800

New Orleans wasn't the first American city destroyed by flooding. In 1938, Orange County was devastated by over 15 feet of floodwater after two weeks of rain. 2000 were homeless in Anaheim alone after the Santa Ana river overflowed its banks. Most of those made homeless were Mexican immigrants and the flood was quickly forgotten.

An eyewitness description.

By: zoogleplex

zoogleplex — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:44:36 -0800

It's probably worth pointing out that in 1938, Orange County was pretty much all farmland - orange groves, strangely enough - and pretty sparsely populated. It was not the totally-saturated suburban sprawl of today. Anaheim was a pretty small town then, compared to now. So saying "American city" is probably not accurate. Let that not detract from this flood's tragedy quotient, however.

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:50:03 -0800

Or the 1889 Johnstown PA flood - 2209 dead.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:51:32 -0800

Well, you can go back much further than that -- in 1889 the city of Johnstown, PA was wiped out by a flood.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:52:38 -0800

(damn live preview! Without it I would have seen tomplus2's post and deep-sixed mine).

By: insomnia_lj

insomnia_lj — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:54:52 -0800

Dear God - Thank you for answering my prayers, but please be careful to spare the people of Galveston and New Orleans. Amen.

By: 31d1

31d1 — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:55:13 -0800

Or New Orleans in 1927, which I swear someone on Meet the Press last week was saying went much better than this time.

By: birdherder

birdherder — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:58:21 -0800

And before Anaheim there was Galveston in 1900, when 6,000 were killed. Hopefully, history won't repeat itself this weekend.

By: ramix

ramix — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 12:04:56 -0800

insomnia_lj, that just made my day....! Can't stop chuckling!

By: Eyebeams

Eyebeams — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 12:15:32 -0800

Not to mention Galveston . . .

By: huskerdont

huskerdont — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 12:28:34 -0800

Insomnia, you just cracked me up. Thanks.

By: shawnj

shawnj — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 12:35:18 -0800

I can hear him now... "Out of the rubble of my ranch - I lost my entire ranch - there's going to be an amazing ranch. And I look forward to clearing some brush."

By: Gamblor

Gamblor — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 12:55:39 -0800

If you want to get in a pissing match over this, then how about going back even further to the great flood that covered the entire world and drowned all the sinful people (and innocent bystander animals)?

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:10:11 -0800

Some of those animals weren't so innocent. You think that all that bestiality happened because some guy just decided to hump a sheep out of loneliness. I contend some of 'em was askin' fer it!

By: Gamblor

Gamblor — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:12:58 -0800

Ok, the thing I could never get past was this: Noah brought his four sons and their wives on the ark. If the whole flood story is to be taken seriously, and all the people except them were drowned, then doesn't that mean that all of Noah's grandchildren had to get it on with each other? I mean, otherwise we wouldn't be here. So God gets fed up with humanity, destroys all life on the planet (except the ark folks), and then leaves the planet to a bunch of incestuous cousins? That's his master plan?

By: ramix

ramix — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:27:53 -0800

Funny thing...I was watching Nova last night on OPB and it talked about the great flood that occurred 15000 years ago in western USA. Apparently a glacier damming lake Missoula (a lake formed by a massive glacier blocking the path of a river) collapsed and dumped over 1000 feet of water over the west. Interesting stuff.

By: zoogleplex

zoogleplex — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 15:37:48 -0800

"So God gets fed up with humanity, destroys all life on the planet (except the ark folks), and then leaves the planet to a bunch of incestuous cousins? That's his master plan?" Certainly would explain a lot about why people act the way we do, eh what? If God destroys Crawford and the Bush Ranch with Hurricane Rita, what message do you think the Administration will take from that? I know what I'll believe... ;) ramix, that's how geologists think the Badlands were carved out, from that lake all rushing through there at once in a massive flood. Probably weren't any cities there at the time, though... although they'd have been totally washed away so we'll never know.

By: karmaville

karmaville — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 15:48:20 -0800

The Vanport, Oregon flood discussed earlier this year.

By: cookie-k

cookie-k — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 16:04:14 -0800

You think Cheney doesn't have the ark market all sewn up?

By: bigskyguy

bigskyguy — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 16:32:45 -0800

Glacial Lake Missoula didn't just blow out once, but dozens of times, with a water flow estimated at 10 times that of all other world rivers combined. 12,000 years ago, my house here in Missoula would have been under several hundred feet of water, pretty much eliminating my need for automatic sprinkling. Ah, the good old days.... You can still see the multiple lakeshore lines on the hills around here.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 16:59:57 -0800

Los Angeles' St. Francis Dam failure of 1928.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 17:07:58 -0800

And floods weren't always of water. zoogleplex writes "'So God gets fed up with humanity, destroys all life on the planet (except the ark folks), and then leaves the planet to a bunch of incestuous cousins? That's his master plan?'" Remember the Christian God originally started with just two, a dozen was a smorgasboard of choices.

By: PHINC

PHINC — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:13:11 -0800

Possibly mentioned before but the 1928 hurricane over Lake Okeechobee in Florida was really horrible and ranks as one of the worst distasters in US history. The Florida Flood that Accounted for the Most Deaths of Black People in a Single Day (Until Katrina).

By: 31d1

31d1 — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:59:56 -0800

Incest and the Bible was like this.

By: zoogleplex

zoogleplex — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 22:40:24 -0800

Hey, I didn't write that, I quoted it from Gamblor. But that was still a chuckler. :)