A set of storms moving through Los Angeles earlier this week dumped tons of rain across town and brought flooding to streets and freeways in some parts of the city. To avoid even worse rain repercussions along a section of the LA River where an important flood control project was held up, the US Army Corps of Engineers is going to be installing about three miles of temporary barriers along the river through Griffith Park, Atwater Village, and Silver Lake, Eastsider LA reports. The barriers will increase the amount of water the river can hold during El Niño season.
The Army Corps is kicking in $3.1 million and the barriers that will go up along the river; the project is expected to get underway next week in an area that the LA arm of the Army Corps "determined this area needed increased capacity to keep the river in its banks," said a statement from Mayor Eric Garcetti's office. The LA branch of the Army Corps also got $500,000 to pay for vegetation clearing in the "highest-risk areas" of the river, identified as "just upstream and downstream of Riverside Drive and the Zoo Bridge."
These measures and funds were prompted by a chain of events beginning with the discovery earlier this week that the Army Corps had not received millions in funding to do preventative flood control projects in this area of the river; the timing couldn't have been worse. Upon receiving the news, the LA County Board of Supervisors wrote a letter to ask Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers for emergency action. A rep for the Army Corps' Los Angeles District said in the Mayor's release that the "additional funding for the river should provide the interim flood risk reduction needed."
The placement of the barriers, which ELA describes as " large wire mesh and fabric containers that can be filled with sand, gravel or dirt," will take a few weeks, and will stay put until the spring. It's possible that the installation could require bike and walking paths along the river to be closed off. The barriers are shown on the below map in red.
· Temporary barrier to keep L.A. River from overflowing in Atwater Village area [ELA]
· Mayor Garcetti and Army Corps Announce Interim Flood Control Measures on L.A. River [Official release]
· LA River Flood Control Project Put in Jeopardy Just as Huge El Niño Storm Hits [Curbed LA]
· Yesterday's Raging Los Angeles Storm Set Records, But Today's Might Be Even Bigger [Curbed LA]
· 13 Wildest Images of Today's Monster Los Angeles Rainstorm [Curbed LA]