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National Geographic : 1969 Oct
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KODACHROME(ABOVE)ANDEKTACHROMEBY THOMASA. DEFEO( N.G.S . ONLY AT HIS PERIL does man tamper with nature's delicate balance, or ignore her erratic ways. In Southern California last winter, torrential rains turned fire-denuded land into a Niagara of mud, taking more than a hundred lives and wreaking hav Man oc in areas where men had built precariously on steep hillsides. In the northern Midwest, versus a frozen time bomb set off by the warming breath of spring brought flood and destruc nature tion to parts of five states. New tools for weather forecasting helped avert widespread disaster, but where man let down his guard, nature thrust with wounding speed. To examine these catastrophes, NATIONAL GEO GRAPHIC dispatched two teams of writers and photog raphers. Nathaniel T. Kenney and Bruce Dale portray California's suffocating mudslides in the accompanying article. Peter T. White (below, second from right) began his coverage of the Midwestern floods with photographer Thomas A. DeFeo at first warning of record snow packs. Here he joins Gen. George A. Lincoln, Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness (holding map), on a damage-assessing flight. Mr. White's article, including a report on hardest-hit Minot, North Dakota (above), begins on page 574. -THE EDITOR Soldiers in a losing battle stack sandbags against rising water and mud on Glendora's Glencoe Heights Drive. A sign, posted by neighborhood bachelors who call themselves the Royal Guard, bespeaks the community's pluck. Seconds later a mighty surge swept away the coastal plains, record snows caused death dealing avalanches and yet more property damage. As in the Midwest, spring thaws later produced further floods in the lowlands. Much of the catastrophe I witnessed myself, especially in the steeply tilted canyons ringing midtown Los Angeles. Chiefly I soughtto learn its causes, and whether anything can be done to prevent a recurrence. Within an hour of landing in Los Angeles, I heard a proposed solution. One of those robed and bearded soothsayers you're bound 556 555 to meet eventually in the Los Angeles area was haranguing passers-by on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. "Shape up, sinners!" he shouted. "Make your peace with mother nature or she'll wash you into the Pacific!" Next day, when I met Dr. Martin L. Stout, associate professor of geology from California State College at Los Angeles and a leading engineering geologist, I quoted the street corner prophet with some amusement. "He's more right than he realizes," said
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