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Ana, though no re.fl.ection is intended East of Piru, on Route 79, its sharp time blocked the Ridge Route, but
on.those which failed when the river swing into the bank carried away men and equipment soon restored
bed was churned to unknown depths 3000 feet of the roadway. traffic.
by the turbulent flood. Within a The Coast Route 60 from Santa
week 's time travel was a.gain using BRIDGES RIPPED OUT Monica west was covered with slides
the canyon, and pile trestles and de- While this was taking place, its and debris from the various washes
tours have now closed the gap in the tributaries-Castaic and Sespe creeks out of the Santa Monica Mountains.
coast route. -flowing from the north, carried Topanga Canyon Route 156 was badly
- away 200 feet of the bridge west of washed and immense slides closed the
SANT A CLARA RIVER CURBED
Castaic, and 800 feet of the Sespe 's road to all through traffic. Malibu
Once before the Santa Clara overflow structure west of Fillmore, Bridge piers were undermined and
pushed its wall of water through the effectively closing Route 79. The several spans of the structure col-
foothill towns of Piru, Fillmore and Sespe hurled the Southern Pacific lapsed. Within a week's tim1~, trestle
Santa Paula, leaving a trail of death structure, parallel and adjacent one bents carried the traffic, and power
in its wake. The Saint Francis Dam on the highway, against the latter shovels and trucks were repairing the
disaster taught its lesson, and though ·with such force tl1at it left its moor- roadway.
that former crest was equalled, the ings and has not been located since. Not one of the district's roads, east
material loss this time can fortunately All of the structures mentioned as of a line between Long· Beach and
be repaired. damaged were of early county con- Pasadena, escaped damage. Day and
The Santa Clara, on its westward struction and came into the State nig·ht the district's forces labored,
way, crosses Route 4-our Ridge System under legislative act. Re- clearing debris-covered pavements,
Route-and parallels Route 79, cross- storation work was immediately restoring protection work und sup-
ing State Routes 155, 9 and 2 where initiated, and traffic has now been re- porting undermined pavements.
it enters the ocean. On Route 4 it stored on Routes 79 and 155, pile Regular forces were augmented by
scoured the north approach to the trestles and fills replacing the washed some 700 men, 35 power shovels, 150
highway structure, undermining the out structures and roads. trucks, 3 pile drivers and other equip-
pavement. Proceeding westerly, it Early reports from the San Gabriel ment. Within several days after the
· carried away 300 feet of the Bards- Mountains told of slide-blocked roads storm most of the main roads were
dale Bridge southerly of Fillmore on and embankments washed down the open to traffic, though months ·will
Route 155, and 500 feet of the struc- canyons on Route 62. Similar word elapse before all are repaired.
ture on Route 9 at Saticoy. was received from Route 138 high in
N: earing the ocean, it swept wide of the Santa Barbara National Forest.
its banks covering orchards and farm Here storm-swollen rivers preempted In District XI
lands and filling the El Rio Subway the canyons, carrying with them
on Route 60 with sand and debris. much of the roadway. Slides for a
District XI, which includes the
counties of San Diego, Riverside and
Imperial, lay on the outer edge of the
storm path. The damag·e here was
less severe, though some 7.86 inches
of rain fell near Descanso on March
3d within a 12-hour period. A 9-inch
rain at Escondido forced a heavy run-
off from Lake Hodges Dam into San
Dieguito Creek, whose storm vvaters
undermined the north approach to the
San Dieguito Creek Bridge north of
Del Mar on Route 2. Traffic ,vas de-
toured five days while power shovels
repaired the break.
The Puerta La Cruz Crossing on
Route 78, and the dips at Pala and
Pauma Wash on Route 195, were
washed away, closing the roads for a
period of three days. High water
over Route 197 west of Ramona and
on Route 198 north of El Cajon,
forced the detouring of traffic for
short periods.
In Riverside County, two timber
trestles over the Coachella Valley
Storm Drain on Route 187 were de-
stroyed by high water. These were
This is how flood left E Street in San B•ernardino, a thoroughfare leading to famous
Orange Show Pavilion, which can be seen on the left of power shovel removing five feet obsolete structures, taken into the
of mud. State System by legislative act, and

[Eight] (April 1938) California Highways and Public Works