Desert Floods

Abstract

It was a 15-foot wall of water, moving toward us about as fast as a man could run. We had crossed the wash only a few minutes before, when already we could hear the roar. of the flood not far upstream. It passed us with a rush, making such a commotion that you couldn't hear a man yelling right into your ear. It was about midnight and too dark to see much in detail, but the front of the water was nearly vertical, and huge granite boulders and chunks of trees kept dropping over its edge. This edge was much higher in the center than along the sides of the wash, and it didn't seem possible that water could have such a slope. The whole business moved on down the channel, giving us the feeling that nothing could stop it this side of Glendale."

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