“Disaster: Only Laughter Left”
by Noel Swann
Evening Outlook Staff Writer
Rodeo Grounds Victims
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| Land of the Giants? Evening Outlook staff writer Noel Swann rests waters a hand easily on the roof of one of the 10 homes in the Rodeo Grounds area besieged by mud when floodwaters turned the Topanga Canyon Creek into a raging river over the weekend. Ground level at the home is now about four feet above normal. |
You walk past your brand new Corvair and chuckle because the roof reaches your knees and the rest is buried under mud.
You slosh along in the mud and joke with neighbors about the doll’s houses they’re living in. Doll’s houses because they have been cut to half their normal size by the silt-deposit from the weekend’s flooding in Topanga Creek.
You look at the stalls that once housed full grown horses. And you laugh now because they are not high enough to house a new-born colt.
A SMOOTH RIDE
Further on you meet other neighbors and there’s more joking about the “smooth” ride in the basket sling across the creek.
“The only way to fly,’’ they quip about the makeshift cable-and-basket rig which is the only form of access to their homes.
Unless of course you’re a little more intrepid and are prepared to wade through the chilly creek still running strong after the weekend floods.
Your name is Roark McGonigle, or Gwen Pascal or Ann Stalcup or Jim Hum, or Sara Lane or Renate Casser—it doesn’t matter.
You’re one of a group of about 70 people living on leased land in Rodeo Grounds at the mouth of the creek who were completely cut off from civilization when the creek was turned into a raging river by the floods.
DANGER OVER
The time is now Monday and the danger and real hardships are over.
And it’s easy now to smile laugh and be cheerful as you recount the weekend’s events.
How one was washed into the creek when a tree smashed the foot bridge. How others stood on rooftops when the raging waters swirled up to the ceilings.
How the horse became buried in mud up to its “shoulders” and had to be dug out. How some hiked over the hills which are the back yards of the property to get help.
How others huddled by candlelight eating steak when there was no power. How one man’s car was washed into the ocean. How the access road crumbled in the rampant waters.
How the walls of the house buckled as they became filled with mud. How pregnant women and sick men were hauled across the creek on a sling by sheriff’s deputies. How others were lifted from rooftops by Coast Guard helicopter.
But even as you joke about these things, you know you’re presenting a false face.
You know you need comic relief.
Especially when you see rats playing around in some of the damaged areas.
When Ann Stalcup comes around asking you to sign a list which will authorize her to pick up your mail for you, because the Post Office cannot deliver while your access road is washed out.
When you have called all the emergency centers and discovered none of those federal relief funds are for you. Because you’re not part of the city; and though you’re part of the county the ground is, privately owned by the Los Angeles Athletic Club, so there’s no help there.
When the county engineers say they cannot build a road for you unless life is threatened by the loss of the road.
When the Flood Control District admits it uses the creek for control purposes higher upstream but cannot take responsibility for repairing the damaged bridge or road.
When your garbage begins to pile up and you realize now no garbage trucks can get across to you.
When the gas and electricity and water is cut off in a number of homes and you get the feeling none of the relative agencies are doing anything about it.
And especially when you know the land is under a condemnation threat because the state wants the area for a park.
And you figure that no one—including the owner of the land—is prepared to do anything when the property could be taken over by the state shortly.
DISASTER SCENE
This in summary is the scene I found in the hard-hit Rodeo Grounds area Monday, when I traveled across the creek in the basket sling.
Today I spoke to Ned Wiener, publicity director for the Los Angeles Athletic Club, about the problem.
“We’ve not been able to get in to assess the damages there,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for the creek to go down so that we can get a four-wheel vehicle across to see what the situation is.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to inspect it Wednesday. We’ll make a survey and see what can be done.”
However the situation is complicated. The club owns the grounds, the people own their homes and lease the ground.
SIGN LEASES
Homeowners apparently had signed leases which said in the event of condemnation all compensation should go to the club. They are contesting this because they say they have some equity in their homes.
The whole matter hangs in limbo as individual litigation threatens the condemnation deal.
Wiener explains: “Because of this situation the county has refused to issue building permits there.”
“So naturally things are tricky. Because of the threat of condemnation any plans for the area become very ‘iffy,’” he says.
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| The Only Way to Fly. Youngsters ride a basket sling at Topanga Canyon creek which is the only form of access for residents in the flood-battered Rodeo Grounds area now—unless they feel like wading across the chilly waters, still running high. In the weekend floods, the area’s footbridge and concrete roadway were washed out by raging waters. Behind their homes, steep hills and a 1.5-mile hike provide only other access. Photo by Moses Armstrong. |
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| Why Topanga Road is Closed. Traffic remains barred from using Topanga Canyon road from Pacific Coast Highway to mountain community. This photo shows one of the reasons why—a section of the roadway collapsed by floodwaters over the weekend. Officials don't expect road to be reopened for days. Photo by G. Robert Smith. Santa Monica Flyers helicopter piloted by Al Adams. |
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| Back Within Its Banks. Topanga Canyon creek looked a little higher than normal Monday as it meandered down to the sea (top left)—nothing like the wild torrent it was over the weekend. Water flowed all the way across triangular land mass at right, inundating houses there. Photo by G. Robert Smith. Santa Monica Flyers helicopter piloted by AI Adams. |
