Imperial Valley press., 1934-01-03
GUARD HEALTH
Of PEOPLE IN
FLOODED AREA
Los Angeles County Officials
Move To Prevent Epidemic As
Result Of Disaster.
MANY REPORTED MISSING
Bodies OF Numerous Victims
May Never Be Recovered
From Piles Of Debris.
BY NORMAN b. DEUEL.
United Press Staff Correspondent

United Press Staff Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 3.-Author-
tiles moved swiftly today to pro-
tect more than 100000 residents of
Los Angeles county from the dan
ger of disease or epidemic, which,
as remote possibility, it was feared
might follow New Years cloud
burst and flood which took at least
two score lives.
j. L. Pomeroy, county health Of
ficer, established a field office,
where free dmmurization against
disease, principally typhoid, was Of
fered. =
City and county health officials
broadcast instructions to boil all
water used for drinking purposes.
All reservoirs supplying the city
with water were chlorinated.
These precautions were taken in
spite of the fact that not single
case of disease had been reported.
Authorities pointed out that the
vast run-off had poured into reser-
voirS thousands of acre-feet of wa
ter which had flowed over unguard-
ed and uninspected land. Sources of
possible contamination, they said,
were many.
Regardless of this possible con-
tamination, water came from hy-
drants in Los Angeles today in mud
dy streams. Tons of silt and earth
had been merged with the city's
water supply. Bottled water COM
panies did a rushing business. Wa
ter truck drivers allotted but few
bottles to each apartment house.
They could have sold out at each
corner.
Housewives drew water from taps
into bottles and buckets to settle
over night for their families morn
ing coffee. Laundry in most cases
was impossible.
Vegetables were cooked in a
brown broth of silt-impregnated
water. Water taps gurgled and sput-
tered as accumulations of mud
washed out to splatter in the sinks
of million homes.
Meanwhile, with heart-breaking
regularity, names of those in the
missing list were transferred to the
death column.
In the brush which lines the banks
of the Los Angeles river, under the
mud banks of waShed-over streets
and against houses, bodies were
found and identified.
The known dead were counted at
40 this morning. Nine others were
,,,iccinn ond fooral Iood orI 60
other persons remained unaccount-
ed for.
Charles Warfield, Is, and his sis
ter, Edith, 6, previously reported
among the possible flood victims,
were found in hospitals suffering
from fractured skulls.
Many bodies, it was feared, never
would be recovered. Transients, un-
likely to be reported missing, it was
feared might have been buried in
the debris.
Among those known to be missing,
the bodies of some almost certain
ly we're washed to sea or buried be-
meath imponderable tons of debris,
officials said. Ordinarily a dry ar
royo, the Los Angeles river at the
height of the flood was a raging
torrent sweeping through the coast
al plain to the sea. How many
bodies we're carried on its crest to
the ocean probably never will be
known.
Authorities had only the list OF
missing to go by.
Governor James Rolph, Jr., flew
from San Francisco to place the full
resources of the state, men and
equipment, at the disposal of the
flood stricken area. Roland Vande-
grift, California director of finance,
and Mrs Rheba Crawford Splivalo,
former "Angel of Broadway" also
were in the field directing relief
work.
Transportation and communica-
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