Advanced Science News – There is a flooding catastrophe awaiting California — not only in the Sacramento Delta, but in the Los Angeles region. The Great Flood of 1862 is best remembered for filling the Central Valley of California with flood water, bankrupting the State, and forcing government to move from Sacramento to San Francisco. However, it also struck southern California hard as many small towns were completely destroyed, and the region was cut off for weeks from communication with state leaders in San Francisco and Sacramento. In 1862, there were less than 15,000 people living in Los Angeles and the region was mainly used for cattle grazing. But today, there are 14 million people and a trillion-dollar economy. The Los Angeles region is the entertainment capital of the world, a renowned tourist destination, a major manufacturing center, and the busiest port on the west coast of the U.S. And flooding itself is fundamentally different from the Central Valley—the Los Angeles region experiences ultrahazardous flooding characterized by high velocity flood flows, high loads of sediment, and unpredictable flow paths. (more)