My daughter and I were in a local thrift store a few days ago when she found a special edition produced in 1980 by The Press-Enterprise about the severe flooding that year.
Needless to say, I grabbed it for the amazing price of just a dollar.
Some of you may remember that, 40 years ago this month, a nine-day series of storms hit Southern California. They caused massive flooding throughout Riverside County. It was estimated at that time that almost $60 million in damages occurred just to public roads and facilities, not counting the immense flooding damage to private property. This dwarfed the $18 million in total damages from the 1969 floods.
After an already-wet February, storms began bearing down on Southern California on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1980. By the following Monday, storms had dropped 5.26 inches of rain on Riverside and seven inches on Corona in just five days.
Another storm was expected to bring another inch of rain in the area on the night of the 18th. The already-saturated ground couldn't absorb any more water and every little stream became a raging torrent.
About 75 frustrated residents of the flooded Jamestown area of what's now Jurupa Valley went to the Rubidoux home of then-Riverside County Supervisor Donald Schroeder on Feb. 17. Schroeder came out of his home in his bare feet to stand in the rain and talk to the angry residents. He explained that $250,000 had already been allocated that year for new flood control facilities for Jamestown. Sadly for those residents, it had not yet been spent.
Residents from all over Riverside County, from Riverside to the Coachella Valley, had to be evacuated to avoid flooding.
For some, like the four asthmatic children trapped in their home in Tucalota Canyon near Hemet, the evacuation came by helicopter, as their home was cut off from the rest of the world by flood waters. In Norco, homes were threatened or rendered unsafe because fast flood waters scoured away at the Norco bluffs, causing sections to collapse into the river. One house lost 50 feet of its back yard before the family had to flee.
As the rain continued that week, the problems mounted.
Lake Elsinore kept growing and spreading, flooding homes and businesses. It was estimated that a billion gallons of water a day was coming over the Railroad Canyon Dam and adding to the rain-swollen lake. There was so much water upstream of the lake, it continued to rise until the end of February, when dry weather and projects to help drain the lake combined to reduce flooding in that city.
On the morning of Thursday, Feb. 21, the San Jacinto River — normally a dry river bed — was a quickly moving torrent that caused a 200- to 400-yard wide break in the levee where the river crossed Highway 79, north of San Jacinto.
This was the most serious of four breaks that had occurred in that levee and the waters it released threatened almost the entire city. A helicopter flew over San Jacinto, its sirens blaring, announcing the ominous warning that "The water is coming. The water is coming."
About 5,000 of the city's 6,000 residents fled their homes, while most of the rest went to emergency shelters. When residents returned they were faced with a huge cleanup, as the flood waters brought a large amount of mud into San Jacinto.
Many county residents, especially in the outlying areas of Temecula, and in Sage, Anza, and Aguanga, were cut off from civilization by fast-flowing water or unpassable roads. Helicopter airlifts lasted for 10 days, until those residents could get out to buy food, hay, and other necessities themselves.
These are, of course, just a few of many stories that occurred because of the storm system that hit 40 years ago. At the time, The Press-Enterprise called it the longest and most costly storm series on record in Riverside County.
If you have an idea for a future Back in the Day column about a local historic person, place or event, contact Steve Lech and Kim Jarrell Johnson at backinthedaype@gmail.com.
Press Enterprise
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