The atmospheric rivers which pounded the South Coast of Big Sur, over and over again, were brutal. We were flooded, frozen, and isolated from the rest of the world, and yet, we survived and even thrived in some cases. We learned about ourselves and our neighbors and where our strengths and our weaknesses lie in ourselves and in each other.
Our major transportation arteries collapsed in places and were buried in places. Two of them are still being repaired, one, Paul’s Slide, with no date for reopening. The second, Nacimiento-Fergusson is expected to only have the east side of the road repairs finished by August of 2024. The west, and more complicated side, will not even begin repairs until mid October. The dirt roads are under repair, gravel loads are calculated and deliveries being arranged.
Meanwhile, we are being warned of an El Niño gaining strength which might bring an even worse winter our way this year.
It is not something we are looking forward to, but it is something we will face as the global world has had to face with climate change — crazy wildfires in Canada, flooding in Greece and Lybia, glaciers collapsing and sea levels rising. As Dylan sung, “The times, they are a changing.”
I am taking stock and into the fine tuning stage of preparation. I have all the major things taken care of, and now am stocking up on the shelf stable or freezer stable luxury items — frozen berries, cake mixes, sodas, wine, and the like. While I don’t have enough room for a lot of these items after I stock 30 more pounds of dog food, a few of them are nice to have on hand.
Meanwhile, I am prepping my blog to make the switch from fire season to flood season. You will watch my links change over the next few days. We have not received enough rain to be out of fire season, yet, so those links will remain for a few more weeks, but I will be adding our El Niño watch links. Enjoy our wonderful Fall weather.
Big Sur community is the best at hanging together and taking care of each other. But, please know that there are plenty who now live north (Carmel, Monterey) and South (SLO, Paso) who stand with. Put out the word if ever we can be of some help.
Re stocking up and having enough room, what about digging out an underground “cold storage” for items needing to stay cool? We did that and it’s amazing how functional it was.