miles (3.2 km) downstream from the original Forks Dam site – was almost complete at the eve of the Los Angeles Flood of 1938, the single most damaging flood in Southern California's history. Storms in late February and early March, 1938 dropped a year's worth of rainfall in one week on the San Gabriel Mountains, causing rivers across the Los Angeles Basin to burst their banks, killing over 100 people, and destroying more than $1.3 billion (2016 dollars) worth of property. At the time, the San Gabriel River was the only major river in Southern California with major flood control dams already in place. The new dams reduced a monstrous flood crest of more than to about , sparing a large part of the San Gabriel Valley from damage. However, heavy damage still occurred in places, especially on the lower San Gabriel River due to flooding from tributaries. The rate of urbanization increased in the 1930s, in no small part due to Midwestern families fleeing the Dust Bowl and settling in greater Los Angeles. As the population grew and automobiles superseded trains as the main form of transport, the need for additional routes in and out of Los Angeles was recognized. The state of California made several attempts to build a road over the San Gabriel Mountains, via the San Gabriel River from Azusa to Wrightwood. Construction began in 1929 on the East Fork Road which would have travelled through the precipitous gorge of the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. However, the 1938 flood destroyed the road and most of its bridges, except for the Bridge to Nowhere, which remains today as a popular tourist draw. After World War II the proposed road took on greater importance for defense, and was envisioned as a potential evacuation route from Los Angeles in the event of a nuclear attack. During the 1950s and 1960s Shoemaker Canyon Road was partially completed along an alignment higher above the East Fork, but its construction was plagued by mudslides and erosion from winter storms. The second attempt was also abandoned and is now known as the "Road to Nowhere". Finally, the state gave up on the East Fork route and instead chose a route up the North Fork, connecting SR 39 (San Gabriel Canyon Road) to the Angeles Crest Highway at Islip Saddle. However, a massive rock and mudslide in 1978 damaged the roadway,