Crescenta Valley flood (1933 and 1934)

Earthen dams had been created by the Civilian Conservation Corps in three of the valleys (Dunsmore, Pickens and Hall-Beckley) to trap rainwater.

Around midnight on December 31 (1933), the earthen dams above the Crescenta Valley collapsed, sending millions of tons of mud and debris into the neighborhoods below.

Two notable victims of the flood were silent-era identical-twin child actors Winston and Weston Doty, who died at the age of 19.

[5][6] Following the disaster, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the County of Los Angeles (with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works) built a flood control system of catch basins and concrete storm drains, designed to prevent a repeat of the 1933-1934 disaster.

[8] To honor the victims of that New Year's calamity and to mark its 75th anniversary, a small monument was dedicated January 1, 2004, at Rosemont and Fairway avenues in Montrose, near where the American Legion Hall had stood.

A picture of a commemorative plaque at site of former American Legion hall where 12 people were killed in during the flood. The memorial can be found in the present unincorporated community frequently referred to La Crescenta-Montrose, California .
Silent film stars Winston and Weston Doty were among those killed in the flood. Winston's date for the evening (who was in Winston's and Weston's car at the time of the flood) was also killed.
Storm drain under construction in 1936