How High is the Water Mama?

On Saturday Feb. 20 Steve Lech a weather system specialist who is a member of the Riverside County Historical Commission, co-authors the weekly Back in the Day column for the Press-Enterprise newspaper, and has written 10 books gave a lecture on The Santa Ana River: Flooding Episodes and Their Impacts at the San Bernardino County Museum. At the lecture's start, members of the community quickly found their seats, and reviewed the slide that was on the projector depicting an image of the catastrophic damage left by one of the floods. Lech began speaking on the topic of drought and flood cycles that are typically normal and unique to our region, and described that the current drought is nothing new. The surrounding area can go 8-10 months without rain and when rain does come, it comes down in “clumps.” Lech stated that because of our unique weather system, “We must be careful with our rain water, and what we do with it.” Because of this pattern, in 1862 California experienced the worst flood in recorded history. It caused massive physical damage and lasting economic turmoil. In 1862, the Santa Ana flooded and spilled over with a record 320,000 cubic feet of water rushing by per second; that’s nearly 10,000 tons of water. Lech commented, “Nothing can survive that.” The area of San Bernardino County, which was known then as Agua Mansa, had been completely wiped out. The lasting effects were catastrophic. 200,000 cattle had been destroyed which consisted of 25% of the total United Sates population, and the economic backbone at the time. As a result, California goes bankrupt, and a persistent drought lingered afterward. The drought then caused further problems with the cattle ranchers. The landowners who relied on the fertile land, where forced to sell including former Mexican Rancheros. The land became cheap to buy, and caused acres of land to become easily available for the oncoming railroad land boom. This was not the last of the floods. In 1938 another flood hit the area with about a third of the force of the 1862 flood. This did not make it any easier on the residents in the area. The Santa Ana River Flood of 1938 resulted in 115 deaths, setting the wheels in motion for the construction of the Prado Dam, which was built shortly after. Lastly was the 1969 flood, which caused the collapse of the Van Buren Bridge connecting Riverside and Jurupa Valley. This last flood, although not as powerful as the previous floods still resulted in $400,000,000 worth of damages. Erin Snyder who has lived in Riverside for more than 40 years, and witnessed the 1969 flood first hand said, “We build and put in what we think are controls but, until we get another flood like the one in 1862 we don’t know how well they work.” What is a naturally occurring phenomenon in the Inland Empire region won’t be a matter of if, but when. Lech said that these where only the three major floods he chose to highlight, and that flooding throughout the region is a normal occurrence. Droughts, floods, earthquakes, and a day in the life as a Californian, learn more at the San Bernardino County Museum.