Flood in the Desert tells the dramatic story of the March 1928collapse of the St. Francis Dam and its aftermath, the seconddeadliest disaster in California history. The resulting floodkilled over 400 people, destroyed millions of dollars ofproperty, and washed away the reputation of one of the mostcelebrated men in Southern California, William Mulholland. Aself-taught engineer, Mulholland had ensured Los Angeles'remarkable growth by building a cement aqueduct that pipedwater from the Owens Valley across the Mojave Desert and intothe arid city, 233 miles away. But the bursting of his St.Francis Dam, the city's largest single reservoir, was acolossal engineering and human failure.
