Today is the 30th Anniversary of Linda Mar Mudslide, Flood

30 years ago today, disaster struck Pacifica. 

It happened during the El Niño storms of 1982 and 1983, when the Bay Area saw record rainfall. San Francisco was left sopping with 38.17 inches, according to Mercury News.

On one of the wettest days that season, the National Weather Service recorded the heaviest 24-hour rainfall in Half Moon Bay--5.33 inches--on Jan. 4, 1982. 

The seasonal downpour caused hundreds of mudslides statewide, but on that day, one of the most terrible happened in the back of the Linda Mar Valley.

Three children were killed when a strip of the hillside behind their home slid for hundreds of feet, destroying two houses. Millions of dollars in property damage was done in San Mateo County on Jan. 4. 

Pacifica saw its share. The San Pedro Creek overflowed its banks and flooded lower Linda Mar and the Linda Mar Shopping Center.

Pacifica resident Patrick Talbot Hall remembers the day well. 

"We were flooded out of our home on Jan. 4, 1982," he said. "We left our home by row boat."

Seeking to prevent further tragedy and damage, residents and government agencies took action. 

Hall became the chairman of the San Pedro Creek Flood Control Committee, which, with the help of the Army Corps of Engineers, created the floodplain south of the creek, west of the Linda Mar Convalescent Hospital, he said. 

"The one piece that was missing was replacing the Highway 1 Bridge, and now Caltrans has notified us that that project will proceed this year," said Hall. 

Caltrans completed the environmental review process for that bridge in late 2011, and construction is set to begin this year. The project is expected to take 18 months to complete. 

Hall remembers Jan. 4, 1982 for more than just the flood, however.

"[It was] our 7th wedding anniversary," said Hall, who is married to Pacifica realtor Marilyn St. Germain-Hall.

Do you remember the flood on Jan. 4, 1982? Share photos and memories with other Pacifica Patch readers.