Hazardous Metropolis: Flooding and Urban Ecology in Los Angeles

Although better known for its sunny skies, Los Angeles suffers devastating flooding. This book explores a fascinating and little—known chapter in the city's history—the spectacular failures to control floods that occurred throughout the twentieth century. Despite the city's 114 debris dams, 5 flood control basins, and nearly 500 miles of paved river channels, Southern Californians have discovered that technologically engineered solutions to flooding are just as disaster—prone as natural wat...