5:00 pm – got an update from the Big Sur Health Center for all of us:
Big Sur Health Center update:
As always, the Big Sur community has 24-hour access to a physician on-call through the Big Sur Health Center.
During the road closure, our regular office hours of Monday-Friday, 10:00 – 1:00 and 2:00 to 5:00 will remain in effect; however, we have extended our services to accommodate urgent medical needs during hours when we are closed.
For clarification, we have changed our answering service message and that should be in place later tonight.
In the meantime, if you have a true medical emergency, please call 911.
If you have an urgent matter that can’t wait until the next business day, please call the health center and listen to the entire message. You will be put in contact with the MD on-call. That person will assess your need and either offer advice or call local health center personnel to make arrangements for you to be seen at the Big Sur Health Center.
The weather and road conditions have created an enormous staffing challenge for us and we are attempting to meet your needs as efficiently as possible. Please try to be patient, use emergency services judiciously, and most of all, be safe.
3:20 pm – Big Sur Valley is reporting no power. There are 2 P.G. and E workers between the slides, so hopefully, power can be reinstated, but just in case it can’t – find your candles, flashlights, batteries, and lanterns. Buy ice, if you can. Oh, and keep those freezers closed. It will help keep the food from unthawing any sooner than necessary.
My thoughts, and those of my readers outside the Valley are with you all. Be safe tonight, please.
2:40 pm – Per CHP website:
2:39PM ATTN SLO COMM: REQ BEAT UNITS BE MADE AWARE OF THIS CLOSURE, AND ANTICIPATED OPENING OF 1 LN AROUND DUSK FOR CALTRANS, EMERGENCY VEHS, AND CONSTRUCTION ONLY
2:00 pm – official word is that work has ceased for the day at the operation at Limekiln due to safety concerns. One Windor loader was damaged, although the operator was not injured. The slide will be reassessed first thing tomorrow morning. Hunker down, it is not worth someone’s life, and don’t forget the operator we lost in the big slide of 1983. We do not want a repeat.
Noon – Official word from Colin Jones, CT is that this slide will NOT be open all day. Hoping to have it cleared by dark, but LOTS of material is falling on the road plus precarious large rocks that need to be brought down. Confirmed that the slide is SOUTH of Limekiln and that the Los Padres sign is buried in rubble.
11:30, from Avis about an hour ago: “Road closure near Limekiln State Park. I just got done speaking with officer Ben Grasmuck with the CHP, in fact he is standing here now. Best case scenerio for road opening (at least one lane) is 4 hours and possably 8 hours. Ben said he would instruct the CHP office to call us at Lucia when they get the road open.”
10 am – Sorry, it took longer than usual to get gennie going due to rain. Confirmed that the road is closed south of Limekiln at a place called “The Chimney. One report is that it will be open around 1 pm, another report is that it will take most of the day to open. The official word from Cal-Trans is 1 pm. Re-open is completely dependent on weather, of course, and heaviest rains expected between 11 and 2. This slide is north of N-F Rd. by a couple miles (slide at 20.5, and N-F at 18.9), so Big Sur is effectively an island for the moment.
BIG SUR MILE MARKERS ARE ALWAYS LINKED TO THE RIGHT, CURRENTLY UNDER THE LA NINA 2010-2011 SECTION. DURING FIRES, IT IS STILL THERE, JUST SHIFTED TO THE FIRE SEASON. REDTAIL HAS A VERY GOOD, DETAILED LISTING AND THAT IS THE ONE I USE.
I am getting gas delivered today, if my road is passable, so should be good until Monday. I’ll try to get going earlier tomorrow morning. It has just been nine days of pretty much non-stop reporting now, and like some of you, I am getting tired.
I believe there is a chp hard closure at Big Creek?
Don’t know where the hard closure is, but as of this am, Esalen guests reached Lucia before getting stranded. Lucia has guests stranded also. CT will be trying to punch a hole through so that stranded motorists can get out.
Kate,
Our Ashley just went down to the slide with Richard from Caltrans. We were going to try to get Stacey across so we have a waitress. The slide is still very active and not safe at this time. I do not see them getting a lane in for quite some time. I think the 1:00 time frame will not happen. Deff. NO closure by Big Creek at this time.
Avis is an admin, and I’ve asked if she would be willing to add updates right in the body of the post, if she has the time. Lucia will be really busy with people heading down, not believing it is closed, or trapped tourists, so we will see if she has time.