p. 14 | Floods at Loma Linda by C. McREYNOLDS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 2, 1916

Floods at Loma Linda

By C. McREYNOLDS

LOMA LINDA shared with other portions of Southern California in the recent floods. The first one came January 17, caused by heavy rains, in the mountains. Water spread over nearly all the village north of the Southern Pacific Railroad to a depth of one to three feet. The people fled to the sanitarium and the cottages on the hill, and remained till the water receded.

All had begun to feel secure when the rains began again, and another flood, worse than the first, came rolling down in a veritable wall of water, a portion of which came from the bursting of a reservoir at Beaumont, twenty-four miles up the valley. The altitude of Beaumont is 1,800 feet higher than of Loma Linda, an average descent of 900 inches a mile.

A desperate effort was made by the farm force and our whole medical school, headed by the president, Dr. N. G. Evans, to prevent the water from breaking over the bank of the stream, by the use of sandbags, trees, timbers, etc. Many were working in water waist-deep or more when the rolling flood was seen coming. They had time to escape its violence by a hasty flight. It swept all obstructions away, and soon began to cut a new channel along the railroad track. This channel continued to widen till it was seen that soon our store, bakery, printing plant, laundry, power plant, and garage would surely go. Just before nightfall the depot went down with a crash. All had been done that could be, and teams and auto trucks were busy removing goods from our buildings. Many who were exhausted with labor in the wet and cold gathered in groups and sought God for protection of the property that is his own. In a short time it was seen that, with no cause obvious to human sight, the current had shifted to the north side of the stream, now one hundred and fifty feet wide. It continued to cut away the land till it was more than three hundred feet wide.

The railroad, with its entire right of way, was taken out to a depth of six to ten feet the entire length of its passage through the Loma Linda farm, amounting to twenty or more acres, while not more than one and a half acres of our land was taken. One of our small cottages was wrecked, but not taken away. Water mains were swept out, and the telephone and light system was much damaged. Probably the greatest loss is in the covering up of about sixty acres of alfalfa so deep that it must be reseeded, though the soil deposited is good.

No lives were lost, none were seriously hurt, and none of our stock was carried away. Most of our lawns in the valley were spoiled, and some fences taken out, yet our loss was nothing as compared with many localities around us. The death toll of the flood at San Diego is probably sixty or more, and the property loss almost incalculable. Thousands who were wealthy, were rendered homeless and penniless.

Hundreds of people have come to Loma Linda to see the flood, and wondered why the buildings were not taken. We can say, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment," worketh for us an experience in faith and patience. The loss to the institution and farm was probably not more than $1,500.

C. McREYNOLDS.