Evening star., 1938-03-03
10000 Homeless,
With Damage in
the Millions.
MOVIE STARS HIT;
MANY MAROONED
Los Angeles Is Isolated.
Cloudburst Carries
Park to Sea.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LOS ANGELES, March 3.-Flood-
ravaged Southern California today
saw the possibility that more thar
SO persons lost their lives in q four
day storm climaXed by an unprece-
dented rainfall.
Eighteen persons were known tC
be dead and 18 missing, but the num-
ber was steadily increased by uncon.
firmed reports. The exact toll prob
ably never will be known.
An undetermined number of storm
spectators were washed into the ocean
near Long Beach when the bridge or
which they stood collapsed The num-
ber lost was generally estimated at 10
but an appeal to ships at sea to watch
for survivors or bodies said As were
on the bridge at the time.
Unconfirmed reports raised to Il
the number of persons trapped anG
drowned in their automobiles when q
cloudburst sent the Santa Ana River
suddenly rushing over its banks Orig.
inally five were listed as victims in
this phase of the widespread disas-
ter.
More Rain Forecast.
Moderating conditions, but more
rain were forecast today. No imme.
diate hope was seen of Southern Cali
fornia re-esatblishing normal contac,
with the outside world. All regular
channels of communication-trai
plane, phone, telegraph. bus-were
broken by the storm. Radio furnished
the only outside contact.
II Missing at Riverside.
Riverside. struck by the cloudburst-
swollen Santa Ana River, reported II
persons missing
The town of Santa Ana, about 80
miles downstream. was inundated by
feet of water. From Santa Ana tc
Huntington Beach. the rivers mouth
communications were out, and the
limits of destruction could only be
guessed.
Throughout the rich citrus belt
towns opened theaters and churches
to house refugees.
Riverside appeared to have been
hardest hit as torrential runoff from
Big Bear Valley sent the Santa Ana
River plunging over its banks into
an old channel, unused since 1882.
Flood victims in the western dis
trict of Riverside clung to treetops
until rescued
The city's power was cut off almost
all of last night. There was no tele-
phone or telegraph service.
The number of homeless. estimated
at 10000 in Southern California S
coastal plain, mounted hourly.
For the storm which reached a
climax in most sections yesterday.
southern counties suffered millions of
dollars of property damage as bridges
broke, highways sank, homes COL
lapSed, stores ran brimming and gar
dens and ranch acreages were sub
merged.
The stricken area extended from
Ventura on the north to San Juan
Capistrano on the south; from the
ocean to the San Bernardino Noun
tains which divide Southern Cali
fornia's coastal plain and the desert.
Flooded and washed-out traffic ar
teries and toppled utility lines isolated
wide sections
AS the rain, heaviest ever recorded
here, subsided into sporadic showers
at many points, victims cheered a
forecast by Government meterologists
that the worst was over. Only scat
tered and light rain was expected
today. Rainfall in the last four days
here tptaled 1859 inches.
Seriousness of the flood situation,
however, led Mayor Frank L. Shaw
of Los Angeles to mobilize the Major
Emergency Council. 1t was organized
a year ago to cope with any major
disaster in the metropolitan area and
coordinate the work of peace officers.
relief agencies, war veterans and the
National Guard.
Raging down normally dry course,
fiinging huge timbers about like
matchwood. the Los Angeles River
became weapon of death yesterday.
Farther north, in the Bell district,
a falling power line pole crushed the
Gage Avenue Bridge over the river.
Four persons were reported swept
away
Bodies were reported seen in the
river where it curls around the edge
of Universal Studio in San Fernando
Valley. The number was not estab-
lished. Hours later the body of So
year-old woman was washed up on
the river bank near Elysian Park.
A wall of water rushing down Lytle
Creek near San Bernardino claimed
the lives of three men, a woman and
. boy.
Landslides and floods caused other
deaths in southern counties.
Northern and Central California
also felt the effects of the storm, but
conditions there were not so serious.
Water Rushes Through Levee.
The Pajaro River, which borders
Watsonville, rose suddenly, and waters
poured into the lower half of the city
(See FLOODS, Page A-5.)