Day: January 7, 2017

Voluntary Evacuation Notice

A voluntary evacuation order has been issued for the area in Big Sur from Fernwood to River Ridge. This is a precaution due to concerns about the potential for the Big Sur River to overflow. If you are in this area, Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies will contact you.
The River Inn has offered accommodations for those who want to voluntarily evacuate.

I am only guessing, but by “River Ridge” I believe they may mean “bridge” in referencing the bridge to Clear Ridge, as RI accommodations are on the east side, not near the river.

HIGHWAY ONE TO CLOSE AT 4 PM

Detail Information
2:09 PM 3 [4] 1039 SALCOMM W/INFO
2:06 PM 2 [3] REQ TO NTFY TMC AND NTFY MTRY COMM PRIOR TO 1600 HRS
2:06 PM 1 [1] CLOSE SR1 AT 1600 HRS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE CAL TRANS LUCIA AT RAGGED

BIG SUR RIVER BLOCKAGE OF CONCERN

I just received this at 3:45 pm from MoCo OES

Lew Bauman ask that I respond back to you. This has been elevated to our OES Emergency Manager who is having discussions with our Resource Management Agency on what we can do or make happen quickly.
What would be helpful is if you can reach back to the resident(s) in that area and ask that they monitor things and call 911 if things start to digress and the situation presents itself as an immediate threat. We are concerned as they are that no one is caught in any kind of flooding or dangerous situation. They should obviously remove themselves from harm’s way if the situation calls for it.
We are working as fast as possible to get some resolution to this before the river gets to a dangerous level, i.e.: flood stage.
I tried to call, but as you stated cell service is spotty at best.
I’ll keep you advised as this moves forward and if you can assist us by acting as the conduit to the residents it would be greatly appreciated.

5 mins later I got an email saying they would not be doing anything during the storm. A few minutes after that, I got an email from Carl Holm saying he had contacted SP. I am also informed that Ken Wright has contacted State Parks to get local equipment out to pull the redwoods to the bank. At present the fallen trees are diverting the river against the west side of the riverbank, undercutting more ground beneath more redwoods likely to fall. He also said there are trees across the river by the PBS state park sewer plant.

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Photos by Andrew Carlson

BigSur Kate, I just got off the phone with some of the residence that live near St. Francis church (by Fernwood) and they asked me to write you. There are 4 big redwoods that have fallen across the river there by the church blocking the river. The banks are eroding and tree size driftwood is building up on top of it. There are 4 more (even larger redwoods )that look like they may fall across that part of the river. These folks are worried that if this dams up even worse and then bursts it will flood everyone below.

NWS Forecast Update, 1/7/17

And lastly, this from NOAA tonight:

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National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey California

Updated Rainfall Totals: Significant rainfall is still forecast to occur through Monday afternoon. Here is our current thinking of how much rainfall will fall over the next 48 hours or so. 2-4″ will be likely for most urban areas across the SF/Monterey Bay Areas. Be extra cautious when driving this weekend. Ponding and flooding of roads will be a big threat. Do not try to drive through flooded roads. Stay safe.

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MoCo OES Saturday Update #1

Good morning Everyone.
Distribution to CAO + Key MoCo staff, CPOA, Elected +Staff, MoCo Vol Leadership

Just finished an NWS Weather Briefing.

Synopsis:
Timing of storm still on track. Heaviest rain starting late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.
Bull-eye of storm is still TBD, at least the full brunt of the storm is still fluctuating. Looks to be slightly north of MoCo we’ll still get plenty of rain and wind.
Winds this morning are gusting to 40 mph in Monterey and 46 in Big Sur, 21 in King City. Winds are forecast to be strong between 7a-10a Sunday at the same gust levels – 40+ mph.
Still anticipating 8-10″ of rain along the coast with 12-14″ in the higher elevations.
Tides – may it through high tide this morning without any reported incidents. High tide tomorrow at 7:22 a.m. and storm surge not consider to be a problem for MoCo. Tide will be at 6.45 feet with maybe a 1/2 foot storm surge.
Rain once it starts along the coast will be pretty steady and during the overnight hours is forecast to see rain rate of 1-1-1/2″ per hours for extended period.
There are some minor power outages; Carmel highlands – 56 people, Jamesburg – 28, PG 25
OES is monitoring all the time for any changes and will update as warranted. OES Duty Officer and Emergency Manager have been briefed.
I’ll continue to monitor and update as warranted.

Rain and Road Reports, 1/7/17

9 pm – and yet another one:

Incident: 00348 Type: Roadway Flooding Location: 47200 Sr1 Loc Desc: FERNWOOD RIVER AREA Lat/Lon: 36.303039 -121.880112
Detail Information
NO DETAILS

Incident: 00168 Type: Roadway Flooding Location: Sr1 / Andrew Molera State Park Loc Desc: Lat/Lon: 36.288901 -121.846554
Detail Information
12:31 PM 1 [2] 1039 CALTRANS

Noon – Three Peaks and Chalk Peak up to almost 2″

11:15 – Elkhorn Slough Rd. Expected to be closed for a month due to sink hole.

11 am – Paul’s slide puked again:

Incident: 00125 Type: Road/Weather Conditions Location: X Loc Desc: Lat/Lon: 0:0
Detail Information
10:56 AM 1 [1] SLIDE JSO LUCIA BACK AGAIN / CT 1097 / WORKING TO CLR THE RD

9:30 – So, I have posted the 20″ in 2 days model of the NAM, the 40″ in 10 days NCEP and now here is the third model, GFS. They all seem to be in agreement that we are due to be hammered. This was originally an animated GIF, but I can’t post those here, and haven’t figured out how to post to FB so here are a couple of screen shots. BTW, at 9 am, over an inch at Big Sur Station, Chalk Peak, and Three Peaks. Black Cone was at 1 and 1/2″

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5:30 am – Big Sur starts out the day with:

“As of 5 am about 0.50 inches of rain in Big Sur, 0.12 in downtown San Francisco and 0.25 around Santa Rosa. #CAStorm” per NWS. Per automatic gauges, Mining Ridge has .47″, Three Peaks has .51″ and Chalk Peak is missing its data. The heaviest rain is expected tonight into Sunday morning.

High Wind Advisories in effect through tomorrow. Howling pretty good up here.

Highway 41 Closed between MB and Atascadero

Contract being awarded to clean up this mess.

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Highway 41 will NOT reopen today, Saturday, 1/7/17

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Incident: 00234 Type: SIG Alert Location: Sr41 / Cerro Alto Rd Loc Desc: SR41 AT CERRO ALTO CAMPGROUND Lat/Lon: 35.429180 -120.751708
Detail Information
9:54 PM 2 [3] WILL BE CLOSED AT LEAST ALL NIGHT
7:30 PM 1 [1] RDWY CLOSED DUE TO MUD SLIDE

this closure is being manned. Cal Trans stopped working on it in the dark as it was too dangerous because it was still moving.