11-03-2010, 05:06 PM
Gary S Wrote:I'm sure they are very similar, although we call them bayous. They wind all through the Houston area, with all manner of roads and highways and rail bridges crossing them.
Ours are actually flood control channels. We only get 13 inches of rain a year, except for the rare really wet winter like 2003(?) when we got 34 inches, or our dry years lately where we get 2 inches. However we have mountains to the north and east of L.A. that are 9,000-11,000 feet high that get a lot of snow every winter. If they don't, the ski lodges lose money big time! In the spring when the snow melts, the run off comes down all of the rivers and fill them up to 2 or 3 feet from the top. I guess before they built up the banks and put in the concrete, the spring run off would tend to flood low lying areas.