Deluge and Drama. The Flood that changed TV.
National Guard Rescue people from a Huston neighborhood. Aug. 27, 2017. Army National Guard photo by Lt. Zachary West.
Today the rain kept weeping down on Texas. There are two reservoirs just outside of Houston designed to prevent the downtown area from flooding.
It has gates that can open and release water down the river /flood control channel called the Buffalo Bayou through town and out to sea, in the event it gets too full. They knew this water release would likely result in some flooding around the banks of the river, but those areas were supposed to have assumed that risk.
It’s better than the alternative. That is an uncontrolled flood from the dam overflowing or breaking. That would be way more destructive.
Andrew Schneider of Huston Public Media reported to Bill Chapel of NPR this:
“Persistent rain is "pushing the Addicks and Barker reservoirs to record heights" and forcing water over the reservoirs' spillways west of downtown.”
The water cresting over the spillways is adding to the flood waters despite the open flood gates and raising the water level in the areas around homes. This is pushing even more people out, requiring more rescues.
The rain might not stop until Thursday, and everyone hopes the dam just holds together and they get as many people out as soon as possible.
Can you imagine being in your home and water starts coming under the door like you’re on the Titanic? Not being able to get out of your neighborhood, having to escape by boat or helicopter and leave behind your earthly possessions and possibly pets? Not only that; but people are sick or depressed or addicted or giving birth or having problems on top of dealing with the fact that they don’t have a home and their neighborhood is gone.
All this being covered live by a swarm of news-copters and even drones hovering over the area, being our eyes in the sky so we can watch the real life drama unfold. HD cameras trained in to capture the human expression. This almost god-like power to be perched above chaos so that the masses may see has a beginning. That happened right here in the LA Baldwin Hills area.
A Dam failed in the 1960’s. An area that is now a hill in the Kenneth Hahn recreation area, was once a large reservoir called the Baldwin Hills Reservoir. The cover photo is an old one from this flood.
The dam was designed as LA’s emergency backup water supply and as a replacement for the St. Francis Dam and reservoir. Which also broke. (Ah… there's another “backup water supply” right?) It was built in WWII, and the emphasis was on building quickly even though it was on a fault line and next to an oil field.
According to Wikipedia, on Dec, 14th 1963, the dam cracked, due to work in the nearby oil field. Then a large hole opened up and sent a 50ft wall of water smashing through homes in the Baldwin Hills and down to the city below. 250 million gallons only took 77 mins to drain. Five people died, and 277 homes were lost.
KTLA’s live news coverage of the disaster from a helicopter is widely credited as the first of such in TV news. Here is an old newsreel I dug up that has some of the coverage.
The drama from this event made national news. It was one of the first instances of "breaking news."
More importantly, one of the first times hands motioned wildly towards a TV as the person watching it shouts "Hey, come look at this." One of the first times people (safely) dropped what they were doing and ran to a TV. One of the first frantic "are you watching the news?!?" phone calls. A tragedy in real time you can watch along with the people living it.
This event paved the way for News-copter footage of everything from car chases to live coverage of major news events like the hurricane coverage we’re seeing today.
Like Mr. Rodgers said; during disasters "Always look for the helpers." Live coverage helps do that.
-Mike
I added a link to the Red Cross if you’d like to help the hurricane victims.
-If you want to hike the site of the dam, it’s in the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. I think there is a plaque or something.
(Gallery Courtesy of L.A. Times, December 14, 1963).
