About: Crescenta Valley flood (1933 and 1934)

The Crescenta Valley flood occurred in New Year's Eve 1933 (December 31, 1933) and extended to New Year's 1934 (January 1, 1934) in the Crescenta Valley in Los Angeles County, California, inundating communities in the valley including La Crescenta-Montrose, La Cañada, and Tujunga. This seemed to have happened because in late 1933, wildfires burned much of the trees and grass in the Crescenta Valley, leaving the cities in the lower parts of the valley vulnerable to flooding. On New Year's Eve, heavy rains led to the collapse of earthen dams, which in turn led to the destruction of many homes in the valley and many deaths.