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<br />California, Here She Comes <br /> <br />The skies were fair and the weather warm along California's <br />Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta on June 21. No apparent <br />flood threat was in sight. <br />Yet, at 1 AM the fire siren in the delta town of Isleton (pop. <br />1320) on Andrus Island sounded the alarm signalling a major <br />break in a levee protecting the island and the community from <br />the rampaging waters of Ihe San Joaquin. <br />Despite efforts of Army engineers to coordinate emergency <br />efforts of men and machines in attempting to repair the levee, <br />the break widened to more than 200 feet. Within 48 hours an <br />estimated 2,000 people, including vacationers as well as resi- <br />dents, had to flee the island as the river flowed inland to cover <br />Isleton with ten feet of muddy della water. <br />Little chance was left for repairing the levee until water on <br />both sides of the protective barrier reached equal levels, and it <br />seemed likely residents of Isleton faced a long wait before their <br />town would be dried out again. <br />Meanwhile, damage from tides flowing through the levee <br />break was estimaled as high as $75-million, depending on the <br />total damage done to $60-million in underground gas reserves. <br />The overall damage total includes about $11.5 million lost on <br />crops, farm buildings, vacation homes, trailer cabins, pleasure <br />craft, roadways and levees. <br />Official estimates are that 500 homes were wrecked in the <br />flood and that more than 100 campers and trailers were inun- <br />dated beyond salvage. At minimum, 150 boals ranging from <br />small rowboats to expensive 40-foot cruisers were either <br />severely damaged or destroyed. <br />Whal caused the flood when skies were clear and no rain was <br />falling? According to William Horn, chief of flood operations <br />for the California Deparlment of Water Resources, bulldozers <br />had been pushing fill material to the top of the levee at the point <br />where the break occurred. He explained that the machines <br />apparently dug into the "toes" of the levee, the foundation area <br />which is broader than the top of the dike itself. When high <br />tides brought additional water pressure, the total water force <br />was enough to cut into the weakened sections and cause the <br />levee to crumble. <br /> <br />18 <br /> <br />According to old limers, the last flood on Andrus was ahout <br />'1906 when the water rose three feet in the downtown section of <br />Isleton. Yet, levee breaks arc relatively common in the <br />Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta. Across the river and south <br />from Isleton are two islands flooded during recent years. With <br />tidal aclion bringing salt water well up into the Sacramento and <br />San Joaquin rivers, these were lefl brackish and rendered useless <br />for agriculture. During the January floods of 1969, another <br />location in Ihe delta known as Sherman Island was flooded and <br />200 residents were evacuated when a lSD-foot portion of a <br />levee broke. <br />Due to the outpouring of the rivers and rising salt waler tides, <br />all delta islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin area have to be <br />protected by levees. <br /> <br />Hclicoplpr lens (<Itches 1~lpt()n (Calif.) floJlirlg homes <br />