The Great Flood of 1916
- Media
- May 13
- 2 min read
Sweetwater Reservoir as viewed in current times with the dam in the forefront.
The flood of 1916 was the worst natural disaster in the history of the South Bay.
It has been blamed on Charles Hatfield, the infamous rainmaker who erected platforms near the Morena Reservoir Jan. 1, 1916, sending chemicals into the air that produced the rain that ended a four-year drought.
Hatfield was not the only cause. The Weather Bureau said the rain came from several Pacific storms that converged at the same time on San Diego, an early version of today's El Niño.
Hatfield and the storms caused a massive amount of rain to fall during the last two weeks in January, more than has ever been recorded for two weeks in the history of the South Bay. All the river canyons in the county were flooded and every bridge destroyed.
The Otay dam broke and a wall of water flooded the entire valley, destroying the town of Otay, the Salt Works and hundreds of farms. Eleven Japanese farmers living below the dam were killed.
The flood carried debris and topsoil into San Diego Bay, forming shoals that filled the south end of the bay blocking ship channels for years.
The Tijuana River flood destroyed the town of Tijuana and the utopian village of Little Landers.
The rain filled the Sweetwater Reservoir until the abutment below the dam gave way, unleashing a torrent of water that rushed into the valley. The earthen dike on the low side of the reservoir also broke, sending another flood of water down the canyon past Central Avenue.
The water pipelines in the valley from the Sweetwater reservoir were destroyed, and there was no drinking water in the South Bay for the next three weeks.
The railroad in the valley was destroyed, as were the bridges at Willow Street, Edgemere Road, Highland and National Avenues.
The Friend's Church washed away and the Sunnyside school was damaged. The Sweetwater Woman's Club house and all its contents, including the local library, were carried into the bay.
The adobe walls of the Old Red Barn packinghouse dissolved, leaving only a skeleton building. The gardens and fields of Chinese workers who helped build the dam in 1888 were destroyed.
After the flood, the Lower Otay Dam was rebuilt and more dams were added to the South Bay watersheds, including Barrett in 1922, Rodriguez in 1936, Judson in 1937 and Loveland in 1945.
These dams improved the water supply but did not prevent flooding, as recently as 1993 and 2008.
Source: Steve Schoenherr | January 2016 | The Great Flood of 1916
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr. Schoenherr's article, "The Great Flood of 1916", contains a detailed diary of what was occurring from January 5 - January 31, 1916. The diary also shows historic photos taken at the time.
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