Repeated landslide disasters forced successive waves of Los Angeles grading regulation

Evidence

In the winter of 1951–52, the city received 26 inches of rain – the average winter brought just 10 – and the rush of water caused 7.5 million in damage from erosion and landsliding. The city then passed a hillside grading ordinance, but the regulations turned out to be too lax. In 1956, the city again suffered tremendous damage after a heavy rain. In Los Angeles County, the 1956 rains also reactivated an old landslide in Portuguese Bend, and the slipping slopes eventually damaged or destroyed nearly 150 homes. The destruction of utilities and roads brought the total cost of the disaster to 10 million. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 672

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Courts held developers liable for landslides, rejecting acts-of-God defenses — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 677