With the threat of a heavy rains putting STROMWARTCH ‘09 back in full effect and  the U.S. Geological Survey coming out with an interactive neighborhood mudslide risk map for the communities that reside along the base of the San Gabriels so thoroughly denuded by the Station Fire last month, I reckon it might not be a bad time to go back to a post I made in April as part of LA Metblogs “Songs About Los Angeles” compendium, focusing on Woody Guthrie’s ballad “The New Year’s Flood,” which chronicled the disasterous deluge of January 1, 1934 (also preceded and aided by a wildfire) that sent debris flows through the communities of Tujunga, La Crescenta, Montrose, Glendale, Burbank and more destroying an estimated 600 homes and killing anywhere from 25 to 100 people (or more), depending on the source.

Here’s hoping hard that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Related posts:

1. Songs About Los Angeles: "The New Year’s Flood" by Woody Guthrie
2. Mandatory Evacuations near the Station Fire
3. Black Box Theatre, neighborhood theatre in Montrose
4. Burbank Residents: Green Your Home and Get Free Stuff
5. Where’s The Fire?