About this picture: This is Clinton Twiss, NBC Reporter. He is speaking from Venice Beach; standing at the edge of the brown, flood of 38 He is interviewing this boy who has just used a raft to rescue his cat. With nothing but water in the background, this little picture is a logo for something too large (200 miles) for us to see.They are speaking into a hand held, self, contained microphone with no external source of power or physical connection to the world.This was designed for such a use as this. Special Remotes where all lines are down and there is no power or telephone service.Notice the telescoping antenna, (It lines up with the boys nose.) This short rod reaches out across the miles of water. Today, would we call this device a wireless mike? This is a prototype, hand made, not available in stores. It

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There are others, engineers, with radio receivers tuned to this pre-set frequency. We will see another similar unit helping cover the flood. Radio communication reduces the loss of life and helps help to find its way to trouble.

Here, on our left is an improvised Radio Control Room. Left to right we see Joy Storm, NBC announcer. Radio KFI engineers, George Curran and Seymour Johnson.This is where the signals from the various mikes are monitored and switched. NBC, CBS, KFI, KECA, KGER and others have ‘pooled’ the remote. Sharing space, information and what ever facilities that may be available. We can see that they are busy. They are dressed for the weather that produced this 1938, 50 year flood. This shelter itself is part of the disaster area. We must look at these three faces. The men are tired, uncomfortable andStressed by the messages they are handling. Most of the news is sad. Homes are being swept away and close by, people are dying. Over 100 this week of the 38 flood. A number perished when they drove through deep water and were swept away. Emergency Radio saves lives and helps Help find trouble.

KFI Special Events Dir Jimmy Vandiveer is interviewing a flood refuge. This man has lost his home to rising water. No one is smiling here either. Vandiveer is holding another wireless mike. We see that this one has opposing handles and bears the NBC letters. (Here KFI is feeding NBC) Each mike uses its own frequency. They can talk at the same time. Master Control has extra ears. Again, we see that the slim telescoping antenna nearly touches the man’s nose. That is where the mike is placed near his lips. This is actually a small broadcasting station. It is just an <RF> whisper and only needs to travel a short distance. But these voices will be heard on KFI, NBC and CBS, and around the World. For this reason, these units are tested and tuned carefully. New batteries were installed this morning. -------------------------------------------- Ten years later, the war was over and I came to KFI in time to meet and work with these men. I have had this mike in my hands but never had it open. We see this as a piece of history, but in 1947 it wasn’t worth saving.

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EPILOGUE

WHY DO PEOPLE DIE IN THESE FLOODS?Why do people live in flood zones>



How do we make our problems worse?

Here we post a number of statements. The reader is to draw his own conclusions, answer his own questions and make his own improvements.Millions of dollars have been spent on studies and public works projects, just in these neighboring counties. Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino and theirFlood. plains



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A Short Study of Fresh Water in Southern California.
#1 Water runs Down Hill!

(I still see contractors who expect drains and eve-troughs to carry water up-hill!)

For as long as rivers have coursed down the mountains to the sea, they have spread out in delta fans, lost speed and dropped sediments. Swift water carries sands that raise the bed that slows the stream. Man raises the banks to contain the stream. The stream in turn drops sediment lifting the bed. Areas like Dairy Valley can no longer use the river for drainage! The river may be 15 feet above the land. Rainfall floods the flat land while the “river” is dry! The cows stand out of the water on small hillocks of manure.Periodic, seasonal rain and snowfall swell the streams. Warm weather shrinks the flow, but extends it as the snow melts. This results in pulses of flow as the seasons change.Variations of weather sometimes send rain onto the snow. Then the released water joins the rain run off! The river reaches flood stage eroding its channel and perhaps switching to an old one. A few shovels of sand in the right place at the right time, can help the river decide which way to go. The history of the river is marked by the many ways it reached the sea. These years the river dries up early. Man, animals and plants must adapt to this or die.

#2 Man makes mistakes

Just now in 2009, Long Beach is voting whether to return its river to its old channel! Because it now is filling in the deep watermooring for ships! The beaches need more sand and the port needs less! It was a L.B. decision that put the river where it is now!

Another decision discussed is what wet lands are to be saved and what can be drained! Man has taken control and made his own choices. Sometimes the trade off is a disaster

Flood Control dams and catch basins are placed to hold back flood crests from homes and businesses. Static storms that stall below these dams may continue for several days. Dropping water to flood lower, low lands! (It rains in the wrong place.)

#3 Man has always chosen to live in the flood plain.

We can’t blame him! Here, in an arid land, he can find a drink. A drink is a must. Next it is nice to find shade trees along the bank!Here is down wood for cooking and perhaps a Ramada shelter. Even a small raft and wood for tool making.

The river has furnished rich deposits of soil. The soil and fresh water means that here are grasses and seeds already planted! This promises that his plantings will do well too! If there is a flower, there will be an insect! If there is an insect there will be a bird! It there is a bird there will be---------a whole chain of life. Man is a part of it too!

At best these are part time streams. Named seasonal because they too are just that. At one time some of the best retained a trickle of water through the dry season. Some were able to maintain a modest lake or ponds and wet- lands. The fresh water stream mingles with salt water and becomes a brackish mixture. This changes with the tides. It has become unpalatable.

#4 The Pueblo multiplied

Early Indian tribes chose first to live in the flood plains Their populations were small as were their needs. They kept but a few possessions. They could easily pick up and move. They could move with the seasons. Like to follow up stream as the river dwindled or back off from the flood stage. They moved on foot- paths. These meandered with the stream and just as easily. These tribes were the first Angelinos. The flood cycles were active before man came to this basin and continue to this day.

Floods are named or numbered by their severity. Five year, twenty year, one hundred year floods.
We purchased rental property in Anaheim. It came with 100-year flood insurance. It cost about one% per year. This land had been home to orange orchards on fertile soil from ancient floods.

When the cost of flood insurance mounts, money is allotted to flood control. Lots of money for dams and drainage systems.
There are larger flood plains in the United States. Large rivers like the Ohio, Mississippi, and Tennessee valleys. Many people crowd along these banks, but Southern California adds a more perfect climate!

As we become more mobile, more and more people come to California to stay! Millions jostle for a view of the river, the mountain, the desert, and the beach. We all want it all. Climate, water, soil and the sandy beach. All of this happened between one 100-year flood and the next!

The old LA Pubelo has exploded into a Megalopolis. The whole LA Basin is paved with true cities that now touch each other.
The old foot- path is graded, widened and paved. The whole tribe could walk abreast along this freeway. Permanent housing with fixed roadways and curbs and sidewalks has patched a cover over the entire drainage system The view from the traffic control airplane shows but a few places where rain could fall on to soil. Now, add over a million autos. More than the population of millions can drive away!So many people wanted to wash these cars, water green lawns and to flush away waste that two artificial rivers were paved from the north and east to serve the old flood plain!

#5 Why do so Many People Drown in the Floods?

SHORT ANSWER: Because there are so many people.

BECAUSE: THE PEOPLE ARE, "CARELESS" "HELPLESS" Reports from the Flood of 38. Many lost their lives trying to escape. CLUELESS, they perished in their cars, when driving through deep water. One KFI engineer told me of stalling his car in flowing water. When he got out, the fast water pressed to push him under the car to what would be his death! The frame of the car forms a spillway for the flood! One takes a step at his peril. (The person is caught under the car and can’t come out on the other side.) One drowns in but two feet of water! Multiple deaths also came to field workers tending row-crops in the low lands. High ground was miles away.

#6 1938 Flood Stories

Most of these are childhood memories. People now mature, who survived the flood at the age of eight or so. Local libraries have many of these stories in print. So many people were refugees that some stories seem to be repeated. Most likely their experiences were repeated. Example, the dead mother found with her child in arms. Dead stock carried by the stream. Track house built on piers. Flood waters gushing under the house. Water three feet deep or waist deep, flushing through the house carrying away their treasures. Finding body’s weeks later.As I begin to see the scope of this “worst” flood, I can see that not even multiple radio stations could cover the hundreds of square miles across these several flood plains.

See what it means to list these rivers: Los Angels River More or less parallel, they cross this vast basin from the mountains toSanta Clara the sea San Gabriel Rio Hondo Santa Ana Green river“Water, Water Everywhere, nor any drop to Drink” (The Ancient Mariner) Slogging thru the miry, flood, the refugee most needs a drink.

Jay Tapp, CE of KGER reports from the flood trashed Beach at Long Beach.


This is Feb.05, 2009 the 71st year of the flood.Rain is falling in Long Beach as I write!

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