The end to flooding?
Construction on the Hellman Avenue storm drain project begins today and the stretch between Eighth and Ninth streets is closed to the end of the month.
Frank Perez/
Correspondent
Frank Perez/
Correspondent
For today's article about the flood-prone Hellman Avenue, I talked to some residents who remembered the storms of 1969 and 1978. But those weren't the only times Mother Nature scared us.
In 1937, one of those 100-year floods swept through the Inland Valley, taking with it homes, cars and roads. Catherine Bridge, who owned a citrus ranch with her husband, Arthur Bridge, shared with me a letter that her sister-in-law Anne Bridge Smith wrote describing the aftermath.
Anne, a student at Chaffey High School at the time, wrote:
"The little house on the Snyder Ranch ... was washed away and is now sitting on the side down the wash. John Klusman's house at the foot of Carnelian is in a sorry state. The water has washed around it and it has sunk to fill the gaps. His cars were washed down the grove and buried in mud. The family moved out and I don't know where they are. The house is a total wreck. Foothill, where it isn't washed away, is covered with 5 feet of debris.
"After lunch today, I dressed up warmly and went down to watch the flume. I was out three hours, and I am certain I saw 1,000 cars go cross the trestle, mostly dumb curiosity seekers who messed things up. I walked almost to Upland, got caught in a thunderstorm and hail, but had the time of my life. All the sycamores in our wash are gone. The groves on the west side of the wash are gone. The concrete pieces that held up 16th went down the river like corks.
"We are absolutely cut off of everything except water which we have plenty of even if it is a little muddy. We do have lights but no phone nor roads. The stores can't get supplies. If it weren't so disastrous it would be fun."
I was in 7th grade during the 1978 floods. I lived off of Hemlock and had to cross Hellman at Church to get to school which was Cucamonga Junoir High. Hellman was a raging torrent with rocks and debris flowing down the street. The water was almost up to the tops of the high gutters that were around at the time. My classmates and I just were worried that we would be late for first period and crossed the street. That same day there was a car that was swept down hellman just south of baseline where the railroad tracks were. After that day we had rain days where the school would be close during heavy rains. It was great listening to the radio to see if school was closed that day.