Imperial Valley press., 1916-01-19
Further Damage to Southern
Pacific Main Line During
Last "a Hours

At noon today the situation than ever
Rain began again in Los Angeles at last evening and fell
all night. This morning rain falling all the way from
Los Angeles to ndo and at the latter point water
knee-deep in the freight yards.
~PrevioGs Washouts had been the Whitewater sec
ton, Cabazon but during the night the track
taken out in the Saon Sea region cutting off commun
cation with !ndio by rail- while the resumption of rain
made it decidedly uncertain how the line could be
reOpened to traffic.
Meanwhile number of additional towns in South
California had lost wire connections, making it i'm
possible to ascertain what was occurring.
All the country south of Los Angeles is without wire
connections and it is only matter of conjecture what the
storm is doing in that region.
Communication kept up with the east by rail
today though the gathering strength of the storm
through Arizona and New Mexico renders it uncertain
for the future.
Colorado River Situation.
Up to noon today it had been impossible to get any
definite details regarding the prospects for the flood
which is coming down the Ga river, we'll other trb-
utares of the Colorado and which will bring the latter
stream to flood condition very
Both the Gila and Salt rivers rise in New Mexico,
flow westwardly into Arizona and unite west OF Phoenix
dscharging their water into the Colorado at Yuma The
course OF tnc streams IS pdfdllel VI
Storm and already the Ga, below the junction with the
Salt at high flood that warning has been sent out
to farming sections along the river especially at Ga
Bend TO leave for high land 1t is stated in fact that the
outlook is for of the greatest floods in the history OF
the stream while the steady downpour still continuing
along the whole of the two rivers does not look
good for the future.
Yuma has protected herself from the Gila by evee,
for has learned by experience that the river at times
very destructive having flooded that city several
occasions Whether the evee will prove ample to protect
Yuma from the coming flood seems rather uncertain
Below Yuma the flood undoubtedly will take out the
weir thrown the river at the Imperial headng and
undoubtedly will flood large portion of the delta coun-
trv The water in all probability will against the
Volcano evee but as this has recently been thoroughly
overhauled it is not giving cause for worry.
Ordinarily the winter floods are of short DURATION
and consequently do not have the for damage that
goes with the summer floods This flood will probably
last longer than the usual winter floods.
Engineer c. r. lockwood of the Irrigation District
at noon had received information regarding the Ar
zona flood and did not know what lies ahead OF the irr
cation system, but not apprehensive.
The heavy downpour Of rain that deuged great
part of Southern California is at end, and the cold
turn which has followed the storm has checked the How
from the mountains rapidly with the result that the
streams are subsidng more rapidly than they
came up.
This has enabled the people of Southwestern Cali,
fona to begin take stock of the damage that has re-
suited and it is found to reach high In fact is doubt
full if million dollars would cover the entire loss.
There is one favorable result which will follow That
is that in making repairs there will be work provided for