Evening star., 1938-03-04
CALIFORNIA FLOOD
SILT GIVES Up a
BODIES OF VICTIMS
So of Those Recovered Are
Identified-To|I May
Reach 200.
AREA MOST SEVERELY
STRICKEN is ISOLATED
Estimate Places Damage al
$25,OOO.O0o, With s3,OOO,oOO
in Los Angeles.
Flood Pictures on Pages
A-3 and At.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LOS ANGELES, March 4.-Seventy-
four bodies were recovered from
Southern California's flood disaste.
up to $50 am. 12:30 pm. E, S. T)
today and So had been identified.
Some estimates indicated the death
toll might reach 200. The most Sc
verely stricken areas still were iso-
lated. There we're definite reports of
81 missing in addition to the IA
bodies found These figures did not
include estimates from Orange Coun-
ty. where the mad Santa Ana River
caused the greatest floods in the area
Metropolitan Los Angeles and all the
communities in Los Angeles County
were going about business as usual.
There is no food shortage and no
health problem. county officials said
Some estimates of damage we're as
high as 25,000,000, but engineers
agreed it would be weeks before a
figure could be determined In Los
Angeles City the damage was esti-
mated at s3.o00,0o0.
Panorama of Wrecked Homes.
Receding waters left a panorama of
Undiscovered and wrecked houses
debris-laden highways, washed out
bridges, damaged orchards and farms
and torn railway tracks.
Red Cross and municipal officials
said it would be several days before an
accurate estimate was available of the
storm damage or the number killed
by the worst storm in years.
The rain, pouring relentlessly across
the beleaguered counties. which in
clude some of the States richest agri-
cultural land and its greatest metrop-
oils, piled up five-day total of II 06
inches in Los Angeles. and exceeded
even that figure in some foothill sub
urbs
Pasadena reported total rainfall of
26.85 inches, but the city is on high
ground and deep canyons on each side
carried off much of the water.
Disrupted communications prevent
ed accurate checks of death and DAM
age from great sections of the five
counties. Los Angeles. San Bernardino,
Riverside. Orange and Ventura.
Telephone and telegraph communi-
cations with the flood d-stricken areas.
partially restored after hours in which
they were isolated, was slow. Service
employees battled to keep abreast of the
mounting traffic, much oi it resulting
from anxious relatives seeking to COM
munlcate with those in the flood zone.
Authorities estimated 10000 persons
were temporarily homeless. although
many were expected to return to their
dwellings early today.
The flood was made doubly furious
by its plunge from mountains more
than 5000 feet high down to sea level
in only 80 miles. 1t left the Los
Angeles metropolitan district of more
than 100000 population virtually
isolated.
1t caused havoc along a 17O-mile
front-from the City of Ventura on
the north to San Juan Capistrano on
the south. Both cities are the sites of
historic Spanish missions still in use.
Eastern boundary of the food was the
San Bernardino mountain range. be-
yond which lies the great American
desert
Film Folks Marooned.
Flooded roads in the exclusive
Malibu Beach district, where many
motion picture stars reside, tenn
porarily marooned some film folk.
including Director Frank Capra, Actor
Neil Hamilton and Madeline Carroll
actress.
At Las Flores Beach, east of Malibu.
at least three houses were washed into
the ocean, large sections of the Roose-
welt highway, following the shoreline,
were washed away. and 20-foot land
slides tumbled onto the road at other
points.
Palm Springs, desert resort center
120 miles east of here, was reported
without light or heat last night and
facing a shortage of food and milf.
Palm Springs is popular week end
rendezvous of many film stars, but
(See FLOOD PAGE A-3)