Having a bedroom window facing the LA River is actually quite nice. I never see the concrete bottom: the part of the river abut my home flows 365 days of the year, even if at a half foot. I hear all sorts of strange birds 24 hours a day, always hear the slight rippling of the river and have an otherwise peaceful aural background.

However, when it rains, the river changes from calm and passive to flowing with strength, sometimes violently. It can raise from inches to 30 feet overnight.

The light rain that beget this morning only gave rise to a few feet, but also brought out the trash. Every time it rains for the first time in awhile, I will see trash float by for three to five hours consistently. It's like a interminable old town parade, only it's mostly Styrofoam coffee cups mixed with random "white things." Once a neighbor saw a dead body float by.

Where does this all come from? It most likely is from the Sepulveda Dam and Basin area where the CHP has reported to me a technocratic shantytown of transients who have made it their home. It's not like these are the run-of-the-mill transients either. Supposedly they have rigged a system of running electricity and potable water (Guess who's to earn their Wilderness Survival badge from the Boy Scouts this Winter?).

With a moderate El Niño expected this season, we might be seeing more than just Styrofoam cups being pushed down and along the river. (Video after the jump)

Previously on watching the river: It's the Valley's newer shortcut