Yes, the Los Angeles River is dramatically full. But it’s just ‘doing its job’

Media images of rising waters may seem alarming – but that’s pretty much what the channel is supposed to look like in heavy rain

When newspapers across the world wanted to visualize this week’s torrential California storms, they chose the same image: a shot of the brown, choppy waters of the Los Angeles River, seemingly about to fully swallow the trunks of local trees.

Photos and video of the river dominated the homepages of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and even the Guardian. On Monday, “LA River” was trending on X.com (formerly Twitter), with more dramatic videos of rising waters.