Publisher: Bloomsbury

Copyright Date: 2016

Edition Date: 2016 Release Date: 01/05/16

Pages: 326 pages

ISBN: 1-620-40915-1

ISBN 13: 978-1-620-40915-2

Dewey: 363.34

LCCN: 2015015372

Dimensions: 25 cm.

Subject Heading:
Floods. California. Santa Clara River.
Dam failures. California. History. 20th century.
Floodplains. California.
Saint Francis Dam (Calif.).
Los Angeles (Calif.). History. 20th century.

Language: English

Bibliography Index/Note: Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-289) and index.

Reading Level: 9.0

Interest Level: 9+

Just before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam, a twenty-story-high concrete structure just fifty miles north of Los Angeles, suddenly collapsed, releasing a devastating flood that roared fifty-four miles to the Pacific Ocean, destroying everything in its path. It was a horrific catastrophe, yet one which today is virtually forgotten. With research gathered over more than two decades, award-winning writer and filmmaker Jon Wilkman revisits the deluge that claimed nearly five hundred lives. A key figure is William Mulholland, the self-taught engineer who created an unprecedented water system, allowing Los Angeles to become America's second-largest city, and who was also responsible for the design and construction of the St. Francis Dam. Driven by eyewitness accounts and combining urban history with a life-and-death drama and a technological detective story, Floodpath grippingly reanimates the reality behind L.A. noir fictions such as the classic film Chinatown . In an era of climate change, increasing demand on water resources, and a neglected American infrastructure, the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam has never been more relevant.