The great flood in South Bay in 1916 was a catastrophe.
In Chula Vista resident Patricia Maxwell’s new self-published novel “When Rain Comes: A Sweet Historical Romance,” it’s the backdrop framing her book.
“I just had fun making up a story piggybacking on the 100th anniversary of the 2016 flood, which is Jan. 27,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell first learned about South Bay’s great flood and the hired rainmaker, Mr. Charles Hatfield,whom local lore holds was responsible for creating it, when she and her husband first moved to Chula Vista in 1997. That’s when Maxwell first realized Chula Vistans today “have much in common with citizens of 100 years ago.”
And the fabled story of San Diego’s rainmaker and the flood he allegedly created, formed the perfect plot device for Maxwell to build her historical romance around.
Carolyn Wyngate, the protagonist of “When Rain Comes,” arrives in Chula Vista in August 1915 and is given a lift by young orchardist Nate who falls for her but whose overtures she resists.
Wyngate wants to focus on her teaching career. She’s also “absorbed with hiding the pain of what she’s lost” in her past.
In Maxwell’s novel, early in December the city of San Diego hires rainmaker Hatfield who sets up a tower the first of January near a mountain reservoir and begins mixing and releasing chemicals into the atmosphere.
Within days, it starts to rain and, in three weeks, 19 inches fall. Creeks and rivers overflow. Houses, animals and people are swept into the bay. Roads, rail beds and telegraph lines wash away. The highest number of casualties occurs south of Chula Vista when the Lower Otay Dam collapses.
Nate is in the storm, having gone out earlier in the day to warn residents. Carrie is terrified. Will Nate survive?
“I laughed; but the story stuck in my head,” said Maxwell of the rainmaker and his flood. I began thinking of all sides of it — the tragedy of lives and livelihoods lost, the comedy of people trusting in a rainmaker.”
That’s when Maxwell decided to make writing a historical romance centered around the 1916 South Bay flood her next literary challenge.
Maxwell started writing years ago after taking a correspondence course. For 30-plus years now she’s been writing, mostly in the religious/inspirational field, and has also done some technical writing. She has published four books and numerous articles.
“From that I just decided I was going to jump into something different than non-fiction,” Maxwell said, which has culminated in a new novelist and her latest work, “When Rain Comes: A Historical Romance.”
“I hope people will read this story — it’s a great way to learn history,” Maxwell said.
