Winter Storm Problems

I was raised in southern Louisiana; Lafayette to be precise. A few weeks ago here in Los Angeles, it rained four inches in one day. That same day, Lafayette had 12 inches. And nobody drowned. They had over 70 inches of rain last year.

I grew up with floods and water. We didn’t have washes, barrancas or creeks. They were called “coulees”--a Cajun-French term. Big coulees are bayous.

As kids we were drawn to the raging coulees during floods to play in the fast water. In town they’re lined with cement but hardly anybody drowns for a couple of reasons. First, the banks slope. Nowhere does a cement coulee go more than a hundred feet or so with vertical walls. Second, and most important, anywhere the bayous or coulees are cement, there are ladders. Metal rungs in the concrete from the bottom to the top. They can be found every 200 feet or so--if you do fall in, it’s not long before you can grab a ladder and climb to safety. It’s hard to believe Los Angeles hasn’t caught on to such a simple necessity. Every time it rains, L.A.’s river system is one big death trap.

RAY HOESE

Sherman Oaks