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The Los Angeles flood of 1938 was a major flooding event that was responsible for inundating much of Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties, California, during early 1938. The flood was caused by a pair of oceanic storms that swept inland across the Los Angeles Basin in February and March 1938, causing abnormal rainfall across much of coastal Southern California. 113 to 115 people perished in the flood, which was one of the most catastrophic disasters in area history.^[2] The flood caused the destruction of roads, bridges, and buildings, stranded hundreds of people, and resulted in the flooding of three area rivers and their tributaries; these were the Santa Ana, Los Angeles, and San Gabriel. Despite the extent of the disaster, however, its effects were moderated by existing placements of flood control features in the San Gabriel Mountains; it is said that the damage would have been far worse if there were no flood control measures in place at all.^[2]

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los Angeles Flood of 1938