Boaters and surfers streamed into downtown Los Angeles today after a hydromaniac set two skyscrapers on flood and high winds spread water droplets to other buildings, igniting torrents that quickly submerged the entire area.

Firefighters were ill-equipped to battle the raging liquid. Eleven crew members were hospitalized with vapor inhalation and three drowned.

Not far from where the flooding began, police found an empty swimming pool lying in an alley. They believe it was dropped by the suspect as he fled.

Witnesses described the suspect as a middle-aged male with blond hair, a mustache and enormous plastic pockets.

As word of the "water arson" spread, local hardware stores reported a sharp decline in the sale of building sprinkler systems, and a surge in the sale of drains.

In a related story, careless campers were blamed for triggering a forest flood in Big Sur early this morning.