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46-450: Construction of the dam began in 1941 under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), mainly in response to major floods on the river in 1938 ; however, work stopped in 1943 and did not resume again until 1946 due to the unlucky intervention of a major flood and World War II . The dam embankment and spillway were completed in early 1947, and the entire project was finished in January 1949 with

92-417: A dry dam , with its reservoir empty most of the year. During large floods, water is stored behind the dam and then released as quickly as possible without exceeding the capacity of downstream levees . Releases from Santa Fe are coordinated with Whittier Narrows Dam 10 miles (16 km) downstream, as well as the upstream Cogswell , San Gabriel and Morris Dams, to provide flood protection to cities along

138-635: A cost shared basis. The original lease with the county was signed in May 1976 with a term of 50 years. In 1984 at the completion of the recreation amenities, the lease was amended to extend through December 2036. A master plan update in 1995 reflected 1995 conditions and proposed additional recreation development. During most of the year, the empty reservoir behind the Santa Fe Dam is used for recreational purposes. The Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area , located in Irwindale ,

184-485: A large debris flow not been halted at Big Tujunga Dam . Sam Browne, dam keeper during the 1938 flood, wrote that "Large oak trees several hundred years old rushed down the canyon like kindling... If this dam had never been built, there is no telling what would have happened to Sunland , and the city of Tujunga and the northern end of Glendale ." On the San Gabriel River , dams built prior to 1938 greatly reduced

230-406: A massive cleanup effort afterward. It took from two days to a week to restore highway service to most impacted areas. The Pacific Electric rail system, serving Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties, was out of service for three weeks. Although the 1938 flood caused the most damage of any flood in the history of Los Angeles, the rainfall and river peaks were not even close to

276-416: A second storm hit the area, creating gale-force winds along the coast and pouring down even more rain. The storm brought rainfall totals to 10 in (250 mm) in the lowlands and upwards of 32 in (810 mm) in the mountains. When the storm ended on March 3, the resulting damage was horrific. The 1938 flood destroyed 5,601 homes and businesses and damaged a further 1,500 properties. The flooding

322-582: A storm from the Pacific Ocean moved inland into the Los Angeles Basin, running eastward into the San Gabriel Mountains . The area received almost constant rain totaling 4.4 in (110 mm) from February 27-March 1. This caused minor flooding that affected only a few buildings in isolated canyons and some low-lying areas along rivers. Fifteen hours later on March 1, at approximately 8:45 PM,

368-515: Is an 836-acre (338 ha) multi-use facility located behind the dam. The park's main feature is a 70-acre (28 ha) lake with boat rentals, fishing, a swimming beach, hiking trails, cycling trails, and California native plants and chaparral habitat conservation areas. Santa Fe Dam is a horseshoe-shaped curved gravity structure located on the alluvial flood plain of the San Gabriel River roughly 3 mi (4.8 km) downstream from

414-517: The Bridge to Nowhere , a 120-foot (37 m) tall arch bridge that was saved due to its height above the floodwaters. Located about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the nearest road, the bridge is now a popular destination for hikers and bungee jumpers. In Riverside and Orange Counties, the Santa Ana River reached a peak flow of about 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m /s), completely overwhelming

460-729: The Great Flood of 1862 , the largest known flood by total volume of water. However, during the 1862 flood, the region was much less populated than it was in 1938. About 108,000 acres (44,000 ha) were flooded in Los Angeles County, with the worst hit area being the San Fernando Valley, where many communities had been built during the economic boom of the 1920s in low-lying areas once used for agriculture. In fact, many properties were located in old river beds that had not seen flooding in some years. Swollen by its flooded tributaries,

506-751: The Los Angeles River reached a maximum flood stage of about 99,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m /s). The water surged south, inundating Compton before reaching Long Beach , where a bridge at the mouth of the river collapsed killing ten people. To the west, Venice and other coastal communities were flooded with the overflow of Ballona Creek . The Los Angeles Times chartered a United Air Lines Mainliner to provide them an aerial view of flooding damage. The reporter remarked: "Disaster, gutted farmlands, ruined roads, shattered communications, wrecked railroad lines—all leap into sharp-etched reality from that altitude." Communities and mining operations in

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552-605: The Mojave River burst its banks, damaging long stretches of the ATSF railroad and causing damage in Victorville and Barstow . The main line between Barstow and Los Angeles was closed for a week. The Southern Pacific Railroad main line over Tehachapi Pass was closed for two weeks, requiring emergency service via buses and trucks. Structures in the Acton area were also lost as the banks of

598-558: The San Gabriel Mountains . The dam is of zoned earthen construction and has a structural height of 92 feet (28 m), standing 87 feet (27 m) above the riverbed. It is one of the largest dams by volume in the United States, containing more than 12,000,000 cubic yards (9,200,000 m) of material in an embankment more than four miles long. The reservoir formed behind Santa Fe has a maximum capacity of 45,409 acre⋅ft (56,011,000 m) at spillway crest, 21 feet (6.4 m) below

644-716: The 1907 "Great Bridge" along the Monrovia–Glendora Pacific Electric line, which had survived the San Gabriel's seasonal flooding for over 30 years, were swept away in the torrent. Along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, flooding obliterated much of a new highway that was intended to connect the San Gabriel Valley to Wrightwood . The southern stub of the highway has been rebuilt as today's East Fork Road , but north of Heaton Flat little remains except for

690-479: The 1938 flood, after which federal funds were made available for both dams. Santa Fe was completed in 1949, and Whittier Narrows in 1956. Construction was also expedited at Prado Dam , which had been planned in 1936 but work had not yet started at the time of the 1938 flood. Had Prado Dam been operational in 1938 it would likely have prevented the severe flooding in Orange County. Although some river channel work

736-748: The 1938 flood, the U.S. Forest Service was tasked with fire suppression in the Angeles Forest to reduce the risk of erosion in burned areas. Los Angeles County Department of Public Works The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works ( LACDPW ) is responsible for the construction and operation of Los Angeles County's roads , building safety , sewerage , and flood control. DPW also operates traffic signals and intelligent transportation systems , drinking water systems in certain communities, operates five airports , paratransit and fixed route public transport , administers various environment programs, issues various permits for activities in

782-581: The County Engineer Department was housed in the historic Higgins Building , a 10-story Beaux-Arts style commercial building that was designed and built by noted architect Arthur L. Haley and engineer Albert Carey Martin in 1910, at the corner of Second and Main Streets in Downtown Los Angeles . After "overseeing construction projects large and small from one of the city's strongest buildings,

828-698: The Los Angeles County General Hospital. Major divisions of the Public Works Department were located at various locations in Los Angeles city for a number of years, until the 12-story glass building in Alhambra, California was purchased and refurbished. This tallest structure in Alhambra was formerly the western headquarters of Sears, Roebuck and Company , where some fixture units still bear

874-470: The Los Angeles River system were encased in concrete, a huge undertaking that took twenty years to complete. The system successfully protected Los Angeles from massive flooding in 1969. The San Gabriel and Santa Ana Rivers were also ultimately channelized to protect against future floods, although it took much longer for those projects to be completed. In response to the large debris flows generated by

920-641: The Peck Road Water Conservation Area and additional spreading grounds along the Rio Hondo . As a result, the San Gabriel River channel below the dam is often bone dry. Most of the spreading grounds are owned and maintained by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works , reclaiming an average of 110,000 acre⋅ft (140,000,000 m) of water each year. Los Angeles Flood of 1938 The Los Angeles flood of 1938

966-609: The San Gabriel Mountains such as Camp Baldy were destroyed, stranding hundreds of people for days. As many as 25 buildings were destroyed in the Arroyo Seco canyon, although due to a successful evacuation, no one was killed. Two Civilian Conservation Corps camps, three guard stations and a ranger station were destroyed, along with 60 campgrounds. Almost every road and trail leading into the Angeles National Forest

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1012-587: The San Gabriel River. By capacity, it is the second largest dam along the San Gabriel, after Whittier Narrows. During the summer and autumn months, most of the water flowing into the Santa Fe reservoir is diverted into the Santa Fe Spreading Grounds, located near the upper end of the flood control basin, helping to recharge groundwater levels in the San Gabriel Valley . Excess inflow can be sent to

1058-462: The Santa Clara River crumbled, during the flood on March 2, 1938. Dams such as those at San Gabriel and Big Tujunga greatly reduced downstream damage in the 1938 flood. Many even larger dams were built after the flood to provide a greater degree of protection to downstream communities. Hansen Dam had already begun construction but stood incomplete during the 1938 flood and was unable to prevent

1104-417: The basin until 1974. A Master Plan was prepared by the corps in 1975. It described recreation amenities proposed to be cost shared equally between the corps and the county and to be maintained by the county. The majority of the existing recreation amenities in the basin were built between 1976 and 1984. The recreation amenities constructed during this time period were jointly developed by the corps and county on

1150-553: The coastal plain, the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys , and the Inland Empire . Flood control structures spared parts of Los Angeles County from destruction, while Orange and Riverside Counties experienced more damage. The flood of 1938 is considered a 50-year flood . It caused $ 78 million of damage ($ 1.69 billion in 2023 dollars), making it one of the costliest natural disasters in Los Angeles' history. In response to

1196-549: The county determined that the department needed more modern quarters and pulled up stakes in 1977," according to the Los Angeles City Planning Department, which designated the building as the Historic-Cultural Monument #873. In 1977, the County Engineer Department moved to the corner of 5th Street and Vermont Ave., Los Angeles until the merge of the three departments. At that time the department

1242-606: The county except the Antelope Valley . As part of its flood control and water supply responsibilities, the Department of Public Works has 15 major dams and 27 spreading grounds in the county. Pacoima Dam is one of the largest owned by Public Works and survived the Northridge earthquake in 1994 intact. Water from the dams is released into flood-control channels and some is diverted into spreading basins where it percolates into

1288-464: The damage occurred on the windward (southwestern) side of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains, large amounts of rain also fell on the northeast side which drains to the Mojave Desert . The Little Rock Dam on Little Rock Creek overtopped during the flood due to a damaged spillway siphon that had been plugged by debris; hundreds of people in downstream Palmdale were evacuated. Further east,

1334-459: The devastating flooding along Tujunga Wash. The dam was completed two years later, in 1940. The Sepulveda Dam was built in 1941 to prevent the Los Angeles River from flooding the lower San Fernando Valley, Burbank and Glendale. Along the San Gabriel River, the Santa Fe Dam and Whittier Narrows Dam had both been proposed prior to 1938, but had little political support until the devastation of

1380-594: The flood line". In the San Fernando Valley, the floodwaters swept through many areas after escaping the normal channels of Tujunga Creek and its tributaries. Waters reached deep into the valley; the Pacoima Wash flooded Van Nuys . Five people died when the Lankershim Boulevard bridge collapsed at Universal City , just below the confluence of Tujunga Wash and the LA River. The flooding would have been much worse had

1426-464: The floods, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies began to channelize local streams in concrete, and built many new flood control dams and debris basins . These works have been instrumental in protecting Southern California from subsequent flooding events, such as in 1969 and 2005 , which both had a larger volume than the 1938 flood. Due to its location between the Pacific Ocean and

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1472-499: The ground and recharges the groundwater . The surface water is not used directly as it requires more cleaning than groundwater. Near the coast, the department has constructed sea water barriers that use injection wells to create a fresh water barrier to prevent salt water intrusion from the ocean into the groundwater. The DPW is a leader in watershed management. It provides storm drain education programs, publishes and enforces best management practices for activities that may affect

1518-469: The high San Gabriel Mountains , the Los Angeles Basin is subject to flash floods caused by heavy orographic precipitation from Pacific storms hitting the mountains. Due to the arid climate, soils are too hard to absorb water quickly during storm events, resulting in large amounts of surface runoff . The steep, rocky terrain of the San Gabriel Mountains further contributes to the rapid runoff and resultant flooding hazard. Between February 27 and 28, 1938,

1564-483: The installation of the spillway gates, four months ahead of schedule. The primary mission of the dam was to serve as a flood risk management tool to the communities along the San Gabriel River downstream of the Basin. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in 1955 stating that the county wished to develop recreation amenities in the basin, but funds committed elsewhere precluded recreation development at

1610-487: The magnitude of flooding. Along the West Fork the floodwaters first hit Cogswell Dam , which had been completed just four years earlier in 1934. Cogswell moderately reduced the flood crest on the West Fork, which further downstream joined with the undammed East Fork to peak at more than 100,000 cu ft/s (2,800 m /s). The floodwaters poured into the reservoir of the still incomplete San Gabriel Dam , filling it over

1656-419: The night of March 2-3 and overtopping the emergency spillway . The maximum release from San Gabriel was held at 60,000 cu ft/s (1,700 m /s), while the downstream Morris Dam further reduced the peak, to about 30,000 cu ft/s (850 m /s). As a result, much of the San Gabriel Valley were spared from flooding, although heavy damage still occurred in some areas. In Azusa, four spans of

1702-573: The public roadway, and has a Department Emergency Operations Center that works in conjunction with the County Emergency Operations Center operated by the Sheriff's Department. The department is headquartered at 900 South Fremont Avenue in Alhambra, California . Services are provided primarily to the unincorporated county with some services provided to contract cities. Flood control and watershed management services are provided to all of

1748-612: The site to ensure the demolition work was halted. Edelman blamed a "foul-up" in the Public Works Department for issuing the demolition permit and assured the gathered crowd that heads were going to roll and that he would "try and stop this damn demolition before it happens." For years, the Flood Control District and the County Road Department were headquartered in buildings at Alcazar Street in East Los Angeles by

1794-636: The surrounding dikes and transforming low-lying parts of Riverside County and Orange County into huge, shallow lakes. A reporter for the Los Angeles Times described the river as "swollen crazy-mad". Forty-three people were killed in Atwood and La Jolla in Placentia . Flooding in the city of Riverside took another 15 lives. The cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana in Orange County were flooded up to 6 feet (1.8 m) deep for several weeks. Although most of

1840-454: The top of the dam itself. Water releases from the dam are controlled by two sets of gates. The outlet works, located at the base of the dam, are fed by sixteen 7 ft (2.1 m) diameter conduits capable of discharging 17,000 cu ft/s (480 m/s). The emergency spillway is located to the northwest of the dam and comprises a concrete overflow weir with a capacity of 200,000 cu ft/s (5,700 m/s). The dam functions as

1886-459: The watershed, and manages watersheds to provide a balance between flood control, recreation, and protecting the natural environment . The department was formed in 1985 in a consolidation of the county Road Department, the Flood Control District (in charge of dams, spreading grounds , and channels), and the County Engineer (in charge of building safety, land survey, waterworks). For 25 years,

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1932-494: Was accompanied by massive debris flows of mud, boulders, and downed trees, which surged out of the foothill canyons. Transport and communication were cut off for many days as roads and railroads were buried, and power, gas, and communication lines were cut. Dozens of bridges were destroyed by the sheer erosive force of floodwaters or by the collision of floating buildings and other wreckage. Some communities were buried as much as 6 feet (1.8 m) deep in sand and sediment, requiring

1978-495: Was already in place at the time, the 1938 flood was the main impetus for channelizing the Los Angeles River in concrete, speeding the flow of floodwaters to the sea. The channelization project, authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1941, was undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starting just a few years after the 1938 flood, with emergency funding from the federal government. About 278 miles (447 km) of streams in

2024-561: Was called the Department of County Engineer-Facilities. In 1988, the department issued a demolition permit to tear down the historic Golden Gate Theater in East Los Angeles . Demolition commenced before officials led by then County Supervisor Ed Edelman halted the work with a stop-work order. Demolition crews had already begun to dismantle the walls when Edelman, then Los Angeles City Councilwoman Gloria Molina , sheriff's deputies and more than 50 concerned community members showed up at

2070-451: Was damaged or destroyed by erosion and landslides. About 190 men had to be evacuated from one of the CCC camps, near Vogel Flats, using a cable strung across Big Tujunga Canyon. The Tujunga Wash reached its peak flow on March 3, with a water flow of an estimated 54,000 cubic feet per second (1,500 m /s). Upper Big Tujunga Canyon was "all but swept clean of structures that were not up above

2116-570: Was one of the largest floods in the history of Los Angeles , Orange , and Riverside Counties in southern California . The flood was caused by two Pacific storms that swept across the Los Angeles Basin in February-March 1938 and generated almost one year's worth of precipitation in just a few days. Between 113–115 people were killed by the flooding. The Los Angeles , San Gabriel , and Santa Ana Rivers burst their banks, inundating much of

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