Edwards had been notified by the Santa Paula night telephone operator, Louise Gipe at 1:30 AM that the St. Francis Dam had collapsed and people in low lying areas needed to be warned of the danger coming. Ms. Gipe had been notified just a minute before Miss Hibbard of the Pacific Long Distance Telephone Company of the dire situation for all the people in low-lying areas of the valley. As Edwards fired up his motorcycle, Louise called all the homes in the low lying areas to warn them of the water and debris coming at them in the morning darkness.
The flood, though only a foot and a half high by the time it reached the small city, nonetheless cleared Santa Paula homes off their foundations and the accumulation of debris from up the valley got caught on bridges crossing the santa clara riverbed and after time, destroyed them by clogging their flow. Just east of Santa Paula, The Willard Bridge and its majestic steel and rivet trestles was struck five minutes earlier than the town itself was completely demolished.
