MSN_021517

malibusurfsidenews.com News
Malibu surfside news | February 15, 2017 | 9
Floods, fires and snow dot Malibu’s history
Suzanne Guldimann
Freelance Reporter
Other parts of California
remain in a state of emergency,
but so far, heavy
rains have caused relatively
minor problems in Malibu.
That’s unusual, and longtime
residents hope the pattern
will hold.
Author Mike Davis in his
controversial book “Ecology
of Fear: Los Angeles and the
Imagination of Disaster,”
summarized the weather
phenomenon California is
experiencing right now as,
“Once or twice every decade,
Hawaii sends Los Angeles
a big, wet kiss. Sweeping
far south of its usual
path, the westerly jet stream
hijacks warm water-laden air
from the Hawaiian archipelago
and hurls it towards the
Southern California Coast,”
where, in Davis’ words, it
“sometimes produces rainfall
of a ferocity unrivaled
anywhere on earth.”
So far this year, Malibu
has missed the full force being
felt in other areas. The
Santa Monica Mountains
have received approximately
16 inches of rain
— almost enough to bring
the area out of the drought,
but not enough to trigger a
disaster, at least, not yet. In
February of 1998, Malibu
received 14 inches of rain
just in the month of February.
In 1983, sometimes
described as “The Great
El Niño Year,” the area received
more than 34 inches
of rain, and during the winter
of 2004-2005, 37.25
inches were recorded, making
it the second wettest
year in Los Angeles County’s
history.
For longtime local Marsha
Maus, who grew up on
Point Dume in the 1950s,
the floods of 1958 stand out.
“I’d never seen so much
water,” she recalled.
Maus also recalls the
prelude to the flood: a catastrophic
fire that burned the
coast from Broad Beach to
Pacific Palisades on Christmas
1956.
“We stood on the corner
of Pacific Coast Highway
and Zumirez Drive, eating
doughnuts supplied by the
Red Cross, and watched the
fire burn past us,” she recalled.
The scorched hills received
more than 21 inches
of rain the following winter,
triggering mudslides.
“There was mud everywhere,”
Maus said.
Longtime resident and
restaurateur Dolores Rivellino,
better known as
Malibu’s “Godmother,”
remembers plenty of bad
storms, including the floods
of 1968-1969, the year she
moved to Malibu.
”I had a friend visiting,”
she recalled. “Once she got
here, she couldn’t leave.
There was so much rain, so
much mud, we couldn’t get
her to the airport.”
Malibu received more
than 27 inches of rain that
winter.
Rivellino also has vivid
memories of the storms of
1979-1980, which resulted
in mudslides that shut PCH
for months. Malibu received
nearly 27 inches of rain that
year, as well.
“The mountain came
down and stayed down,”
she said. “We had to leave
one car on each side of the
slide and walk across on the
beach, and we did that for
months.”
That winter brought
coastal flooding, mudslides,
rockslides and dangerous
canyon flash flooding. Canyon
roads, including Topanga,
collapsed, taking trees,
cars and houses with them,
and Malibu residents were
isolated for months, forced
to take lengthy detours to
avoid the closures.
However, as far Rivellino
is concerned, 1993
wins the prize for the worst
Malibu weather. Rivellino,
the proprietor of the Godmother
Cafe, recalls that
Cross Creek Road was
transformed into a river.
The floodwaters stopped
at the door of her restaurant
in the Malibu Country
Mart. Other business owners
in the same center were
not as fortunate. Backhoes
were required to clear feet
of mud and silt from shops
and parking areas.
“It rained for 16 straight
days,” Rivellino told the
Surfside News. “That was
the storm to beat all storms.
There was mud up to your
knees on Pacific Coast
Highway.”
The Malibu Creek flood
that swamped Civic Center
areas businesses also flooded
houses in the Malibu Colony,
including those of actor Larry
Hagman and tennis pro
John McEnroe. News stories
featured actor Burgess Meredith,
surveying the wreckage
of his Colony house. The
deck and garden were completely
washed away, and the
windows shattered. A dozen
beachfront houses on Malibu
Road and in the Colony were
undermined by the waves. A
section of old Malibu Road
reportedly sank more than
a foot. As more rain rolled
in, fire crews and residents
Pictured is Topanga Canyon Blvd. collapsing into the
creek above PCH in 1980. 22nd Century Media File Photo
raced against time to shore
up the road and build sandbag
sea walls.
Further up the coast,
Zuma lost 30 feet of sand,
and storm surge flooded
the parking lot. Westwood
Beach was covered in storm
debris from record surf and
storm surge. In the mountains,
the water level in Malibou
Lake was so high several
lakefront houses were
submerged to the eaves.
All over the mountains,
rockslides closed roads and
caused accidents. Snow levels
dropped dramatically,
dusting the highest parts of
the Santa Monica Mountains
with snow.
Heavy rains continued
during the winter of
1994-1995. The disaster
was intensified by the impact
of the 1993 Old Topanga
Fire, which left the
hills above PCH in eastern
Malibu vulnerable to mudflows.
Storms in January
1995 damaged the bridge
over Malibu Creek, forcing
emergency repairs and once
again shutting down PCH.
“It was right after we became
a city,” Walt Keller,
Malibu’s first mayor, told
The Surfside News. “We
started out with one disaster
after another.”
It’s not all bad news.
Malibu’s extreme rain years
help recharge the water
level in streams and springs,
Please see Weather, 10
Biologists: Pepperdine puma behavior not aggressive
Lauren Coughlin, Editor
Pepperdine continues to
work with staff from the
National Parks Service
and the California Department
of Fish and Wildlife
to assess the university’s
onslaught of mountain lion
sightings.
“To date, neither organization
characterizes
any of the mountain lion’s
behavior as aggressive,
therefore they indicate
there is no threat to the
safety of the University
community,” a Feb. 8
emergency services blog
post noted. “The University
is continuing to follow
this matter, and you
should still remain alert
and cautious.”
The post noted there have
been additional unconfirmed
mountain lion sightings
at locations including
Seaver Academic Complex,
Towers, the School
of Law, and near Thornton
Administrative Center.
That is on top of nine oncampus
sightings reported
between Dec. 18-Feb. 1.
The university noted that
the California Department
of Fish and Wildlife states
that mountain lions rarely
attack humans, but caution
should still be used. Anyone
on campus is advised
to avoid hiking, biking or
jogging alone, particularly
from dusk until dawn. Anyone
who encounters a puma
is also advised to appear
large and to maintain eye
contact while slowly moving
away. If attacked, fighting
back is recommended.
A mountain lion seen on
or near the Malibu campus
should be reported to the
Department of Public Safety
at (310) 506-4441.
The university has security
escorts available on
the Malibu campus 24/7 by
calling Public Safety Dispatch
at (310) 506-4442. If
it is safe to do so, the university
also recommends taking
a picture and/or video to
share with Public Safety via
the LiveSafe app.