Category: 2010-2011 Weather Watch

bigsurkate is up and running again

Okay, wordpress decided to go into cardiac arrest or something in the middle of the rumors and facts of a new slide on the south coast. I was unable to post for over 3 or 4 hours – and went into withdrawals. How could I keep people posted? Phone calls increased, and if CBs were still in fashion, I would have used that. There are lots of ways to get the word out, but the phone and email seems to be the primary.

My current advice about the south end of highway one is that it is moving in several places. Willow Creek Maintenance Crew is doing their usual stellar job, for which they have our undying gratitude. However, they do not work after dark, so try to get through before then. Secondly, Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd. is in great shape, but is not advised for travelers as it is quite dangerous and unforgiving.

Lastly, be aware, be informed, and be prepared. I carry in my Commander a sleeping bag, an emergency first aid kit I bought for the Amazon (away from pharmacies, except Mother Nature’s), water, a battery operated lantern, snacks, and miscellaneous articles I would want with me if I were stranded. I suggest you get your own kit ready for the duration.

I have an article I wrote today that I will put up later tonight or tomorrow.

Now, I will update road conditions, weather reports, and the like before I get dinner ready.

March 22, 2011 Road and Weather Status Reports

Big Sur River and the little waterfall, which is now a good=sized one!

Big Sur River, 3/22/11 by Debbie Reed

Remember that sweet, hidden little waterfall I post photos of every so often? Well, look at it now.
Hidden waterfall, 3/22/11 by Debbie Reed

10:00 am – below is a google map of the area of the slide.

Google Map sent by Sterling Doughty

Some of us are wondering (and some of us doing more than wondering, but investigating) whether or not a work around might be possible as a temporary solution until one lane can be opened for local traffic only. However, a vehicular road would require at least one stream crossing (I’ve heard as many as 3) – definitely something presenting a myriad of obstacles. Overcoming all the anticipated problems mike take longer than the estimate for the repair of Highway One.

9:30 am – just spoke with Collin Jones of Cal-Trans about the current status. He wants everyone to know, particularly our businesses and tourists, that they are doing everything they can to get this road opened as soon as possible, but that April 16th is still the best current estimate. They are concerned about getting the site secured, and will have that accomplished soon, he believes. Cal-Trans understands the desire to have a foot path open, but there are three reasons that is not feasible at the moment. The first is the instability of the road itself; second, are the heavy rains expected later today, Thursday, and Saturday; lastly, the contract has been awarded and large heavy equipment, including two very large tractor-trailers are on their way to the site shortly. It will be crucial for us to stay out of their way in order to get this problem fixed.

From NOAA: AS OF 9:10 AM PDT TUESDAY…RADAR IS INDC SHOWERS OFF THE COAST…A COUPLE OF THEM LOOK TO BE MODERATE OR BRIEFLY HEAVY…. MODELS BRING QUITE A BIT OF RAIN TO THE DISTRICT TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…AS THE FRONT SEEMS TO BE SLOW MOVING. WINDS WILL BE GUSTY…BUT NOT EXPECTED TO REACH ADVISORY CRITERIA. REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE WINDS WILL REACH ADVISORY CRITERIA WITH THE SATURATED SOILS THERE WILL BE THE STRONG POSSIBILITY OF TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN DURING THIS SYSTEM. THE NAM12 IS INDC PRETTY UNSTABLE CONDITIONS WED AFTN ACROSS THE DISTRICT…SO WILL PROBABLY EXPAND THE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WED AFTN…CONTINUING INTO THE EVENING HOURS. THERE ARE ALSO HYDRO CONCERNS WITH THIS SYSTEM…WILL CONSIDER WHETHER TO UPGRADE THE HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK FOR THE AFTN PACKAGE…AFTER THE 12Z ECMWF COMES IN.

9:00 am – Back on for the day, busy gathering information. A mixture of blue sky and high and low clouds. Expecting rain later. If the clouds ever lift from Cone Peak, I will take a photo.

Still sifting through emails, reports, etc. but will bring everyone up-to-date when I am.

Evening/Morning Updates, 3/21-3/22

Pacific Unified School District is holding classes tomorrow as usual. We have a break in the weather tomorrow, so a good time to run to get needed supplies. River Inn has reinstituted its locals nights, with $9.95 lunch/dinner choices (3 each night) until April 15th. A great time to meet/greet your neighbors and enjoy a meal together.

bigsurkate will be keeping to an abbreviated schedule the rest of this week, probably 9am – 6 pm in order to conserve my power sources until the weeked. Each evening I will be signing off with an “evening/morning updates” post like this one so that if something comes in while I am offline in the evening or morning, and it is something the community should be notified about, it can be posted in the comment section of this post below. If you have NEVER left a comment before, or have changed your email/computer/location, it will need to be approved before it will post, therefore forward it on to a regular reader/poster and ask them to comment for you.

Be safe, warm, and dry, and enjoy the short break we should have tonight and tomorrow. See y’all in the morning.

Available Resources, South and East

*IMPORTANT* There has been some confusion about pedestrian traffic. Cal-Trans has just asked that the ban against it be enforced by the CHP starting NOW. PLEASE do not attempt this until CT opens it up again.

For those of our northern neighbors who are unfamiliar with Cambria or King City, let me offer you the following information. First, there is only one main st – Main St. in Cambria. There are two “villages” – East Village, and West Village. East is the older more established section, and West is the more touristy, gallery section. Secondly, please see Bert Etling’s comment below. He is the editor of the Cambrian and has offered maps and phone books for Big Surians (and others). Cambria is a sweet little community, and as our business owners will recognize, the closure of Highway One will impact this small community, also.

1. As to wifi, there are many free “hot spots.” A favorite restaurant, Linn’s has great food, and wifi. Many other restaurants offer the same. There are two pizza parlors, Main St. Bar and Grill for great burgers, and the best wholesome, healthy food restaurant in town is Robin’s on (?? street), which dead ends at the Bank of America. (The name of this street will come to me, hopefully before I finish this blog post.)

2. Groceries – two grocery stores grace Cambria – Cookie Crock, which is very friendly, lots of parking, and probably used more by us south coasters. A note on this one, they require that they take your cart out for you and help load your groceries in your vehicle, so don’t demand that you do it yourself. The second store is Soto’s which is a bit more pricey but has some excellent food. Both have some organic and natural foods available. Of course, if one plans one’s trip for Friday there is a wonderful, if small, farmer’s market at the Vet’s Hall parking lot from 2:30 pm to 5:00. Lots of fresh, local, organic produce and other goods.

3. Laundromat – there is a laundromat in the Redwood Center and while doing laundry one can have lunch at either of two cafes.

4. The only hardware store left is an Ace in “Tin City.” It is off the main drag, take the same street that Robin’s is on, which deadends at the Bank of America, and go out of the downtown area to the first left up the hill, then down into Tin City – and hardware store will be easy to spot.

5. Pet food is available at Cookie Crock. There is also Hart’s, an animal rescue, but it specializes in cats.

6. If wanting to spend the night, I recommend staying on motel row in San Simeon, rather than Cambria, because it is much cheaper, and I know during the winter and during the week, many of the motels have given Big Sur discounts in the past. The only motel in Cambria which I have stayed in and which is decently priced is the Bluebird on the main drag. It is very nice, and has 4 rooms in the back on the creek with fireplaces that are lovely. Regular rooms as well.

7. Morro Bay is about 20 minutes further on, but has a greater variety of services. Many Cambrians shop and gas up there. There is a Motel 6 that will accept pets at the north end of town off of Highway One and 41. Many other motels, some of which will take pets.

8. King City – there is one decent shopping center. It has a Safeway with excellent prices, an Auto Zone, a CVS pharmacy, a Dollar Store, and other miscellaneous small shops. It is just off Broadway, the first right, easy to find. I have never stayed in King City, so I don’t know about lodging.

South Coasters, feel free to share your favorites, and North Coasters feel free to ask for suggestions. Namasté

Serious Snow, 3/21

Here is a photo taken of the slip out taken today by a reader. Thanks, Simon!

Rocky Creek, 3/21/11 by Simon Eagar

1:00 pm – IMPORTANT NOTICE! Steve Price and Caltrans has sent out a formal notice through the chamber requesting CHP begin enforcing the ban on pedestrian access across the Rocky Creek slide area. Caltrans will reevaluate conditions and access options daily, but for now, pedestrian prohibition remains in effect and will be enforced by CHP. Additionally, this is what the 1 pm PIO notice said:
“• Crews assessing the roadway have tentatively determined that it will be nearly one month until April 16 for a temporary repair to occur. All businesses along the coast on Hwy. 1 remain open. Alternate routes include Highways 101, 68 and 46. More rain is expected in the Monterey Bay Area this week. Condon-Johnson & Associates of Oakland is the contractor for this $2.5 million emergency project and is currently mobilizing for a temporary repair to allow traffic on the roadway as soon as safely possible. They plan to drill vertical soil nails tomorrow to further stabilize the remaining roadway section. It continues to be unsafe for vehicle and pedestrian traffic and remains closed to public access. Continuous updates will be provided as more information becomes available and/or conditions change.”

11:00 am – Looks like it may snow on and off all day. Whether it sticks will be the next question.

This is the most recent I have for Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd. from CHP
9:40AM TRAVEL ADVISORY IN PLACE, NOT RECOMMENDED TO TRAVELLERS
9:40AM NACIMIENTO FERGUSON FM FT HUNTER-LIGGETT TO SR1 NOT CLOSED

10:00 am – received a report that the South Coast Ridge Rd. and Nacimiento (west side only) while scattered with trees was passable. Quite slippery in spots, but my son made it out to Lucia. Whew.

AS OF 9:30 AM PDT MONDAY…RADAR IS INDC SHOWERS…SOME LOCALLY HEAVY OVER THE DISTRICT AT THIS TIME. SATL IMAGERY IS INDC THAT AN MID/UPPER LEVEL VORT IS SWING THRU CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

SHOWERS AND A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TODAY AS AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS CONTINUES OVER THE DISTRICT. THE 12Z NAM12 IS INDC THAT THE SHOWERS WILL INCREASE THIS AFTN WITH SUN BREAKS PROVING SURFACE HEATING…THEREFORE INCREASING INSTABILITY.

Bottom line is that the first week of spring will be wet, stormy, and unpredictable.

9:00 am – blue skies visible among the clouds, snow has stopped for the moment, but have several inches on the ground.

8:30 am – Major snow event started before dawn and is continuing. It is dumping a lot of snow up here, and if this keeps up, will be up to 6 inches of accumulation in a couple of hours! PLEASE do not use Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd. unless you have serious mud/snow tires and/or chains. It is going to be a problem up near the summit, I suspect. I should have reports coming in later, but for now, if you need to go to town – choose Cambria. Thank you. At 6 am, Avis indicated there was a tree down on N-F Rd., closing it for the night, but as of right now, it is not listed on the CHP site. Despite that, please use an alternative route, it could be treacherous.

Spring Equinox Weather Photos from around Big Sur

Debbie Reed sent me one of the Big Sur River she took today.

Big Sur River, 3/20/11 by Debbie Reed

(couple more for you as soon as the internet goddess allows)
Okay, I give up. I had a couple more, but I have been trying to upload the one I took of Cone Peak covered in snow this afternoon, and the upload is beyond slow. Sometimes, it has gotten all the way to 77% uploaded and then stalled for 10-15 mins. I give up for now.

Cone Peak on the Spring Equinox

This is yesterday’s view, and as soon as the cloud goes away from the top of Cone Peak today, I’ll take another.

That is Prewitt Ridge in the foreground, and today, it is covered in snow!

Spring Equinox clouds by bigsurkate

Spring Equinox Sunset by Jeff Parrish

Spring Equinox Storm

And from our BS Health Center:
Posted by Sharen Carey, PA-C

The Big Sur Health Center will remain open for appointments during its usual hours of 10:00 – 1:00 and 2:00 – 5:00.pm, Monday through Friday.

If you have an urgent medical need after hours, please call our number, 667-2580 and listen to the entire message. As always, we will continue to have an MD on call to offer advise. If it is determined that your need cannot wait until the next regularly-scheduled business day, local medical personnel will be contacted to assist you.

In the event of a true emergency, please call 911 for the ambulance to assist you.

In the meantime, remember to plan ahead for medication refills so that your requests can be handled during regular working hours.

I travelled Nacimiento-Ferguson Road on Saturday and the road was challenging dodging rocks, trees across the road and oncoming traffic in my lane. The road closed for a short time on Sunday due to a large downed tree. During these rains, we suggest you plan to go south through Cambria. If you don’t need to travel to the Monterey Peninsula for other reasons, health center staff can call your prescriptions to either Cambria Drug and Gift or to Cambria Pharmacy.
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From our BSVFD Chief:
Already I am hearing stories of speeding cars and near misses on Nacimiento Fergusen Rd. Please, please drive slowly and carefully!! This is a very narrow, winding road, with extremely steep cliffs and in many places only one car width wide. You could at any time encounter rocks, trees, animals or another vehicle right around the corner. Public works personnel could also be out doing road work.

It has now become our major thoroughfare in and out of Big Sur for a lot of us. Highway 46 from Cambria takes approximately 50 minutes longer to get here and is much more safe.

When going through Hunter Liggett if you do not obey the speed limit you will be ticketed, this is a federal ticket! They have told us in no uncertain terms when we are over there for wildland school they will ticket us even if we are in our fire engine, they mean business!!

And lastly, neither I nor my Brigade members need to spend anymore time than we already do standing along the road waiting for the ambulance to pick you up, (best case scenario) or coroner, (worst case) because you were in a hurry. We have other things to do with our lives. So Please Slow Down!!!!!!!
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**PACIFIC VALLEY SCHOOL CANCELS SCHOOL FOR TOMORROW, MONDAY, 3/21 DUE TO DANGEROUS CONDITIONS, BASICALLY. (1. Rocky Creek Slide; 2. Closure on N-F Rd. today; 3 Threatening road closures to the south; 4 Continuing storms with more heavy rain and high winds; 5. Difficulty for Dave Allan to make it to school from Carmel; 6. Difficulty for Joyce Duffy to make it to school from Stone Ridge due to rock slides; 7 The continuing illness of the principal/superintendent; and lastly, 8. the potentially dangerous road conditions for the bus and parents trying to get children to school.
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*IMPORTANT* CHP REPORTS NACIMIENTO OPEN AT 12:13 PM. PLEASE POST IN COMMENTS ANY INFORMATION YOU WISH TO SHARE, RATHER THAN SENDING IT TO ME, AS MY SYSTEMS ARE ONLY WORKING INTERMITTENTLY TODAY. (SEE BELOW) (I did just get my back-up gennie working, but that is a bit iffy with electronics.)

Apparently, neither County Roads nor the special page set up by Monterey Communications has been updated since Friday afternoon, so don’t rely on them. I suggest you monitor the CHP site for road conditions, NOAA for weather conditions, and the comments here for an idea about what is going on around our community. My systems are unreliable at the moment.

Another 2-3 inches of rain expected in the next 24 hours in these mountains, and another high wind advisory for this afternoon. You know what? I think I’ve had enough for today.

11:00 am -As happens, when all hell breaks loose, all hell breaks loose. I have not been able to get the generator going, and my phone/internet/computer batteries are drained, so I am currently sitting in my car, with the inverter plugged in, charging all my systems. Not sure how much rain I got last night as the rain gauge blew apart and away. Checking other containers, it looks to be about 3 inches, but can’t tell for sure. I did get the gauge back together and up, and noted that between 8 am and 10 am, I received 1/2 inch. I will be checking what I can while I sit here getting warm and recharged, and hope you are all fairing as well as can be expected. Please feel free to leave a comment or two about conditions where you are, as I will only be able to be online today on and off, not as I usually am.

Up close and personal with Mother Nature

7:30 pm – this from the NOAA discussion site: “WE SHOULD POINT OUT TOO THAT IT`S BEEN A FEW YEARS SINCE WE`VE SEEN A WELL DEVELOPED COMMA CLOUD/DRY SLOT SIGNATURE LIKE THE ONE PRESENTLY SEEN OFFSHORE SO BE PREPARED FOR STRONG…POSSIBLY DAMAGING…WINDS AND TORRENTIAL RAINS BOTH ON THE WATERS AND ON LAND TONIGHT AND SUNDAY.”

The gennie is out of fuel, and so I am down for the night and hunkered under the down comforter, with silk long johns, and Egyptian Cotton sheets. In Big Sur, no less. How lucky am I?

Anyway, all 8 photos are up, so scroll down to view them. I am going off line for the evening, but will start up again at around 9 am, assuming all systems are a go. Nite all, and enjoy the storm.

6:30 pm – URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
154 PM PDT SAT MAR 19 2011

…A POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM MAY PRODUCE STRONG AND DAMAGING WINDS FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY AFTERNOON…

A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS A HAZARDOUS HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF AT LEAST 40 MPH OR GUSTS OF 58 MPH OR MORE CAN LEAD TO PROPERTY DAMAGE.

5:00 pm – Just found this on today’s San Luis Obispo Tribune. “Resilient Big Sur residents tend to become used to all this. As Kathleen Novoa, Big Sur’s cyber town crier at http://bigsurkate.wordpress.com, wrote in her blog Thursday morning, ‘We will Sur-vive. We always do.'” Cyber town crier? How funny.

2:30 pm – still uploading photos, but in the mean time, I received a road report on Nasty-Fergy an hour or two ago from my son, who drove up the front side from Highway One to the summit. No slides, but plenty of rocks on the road, some about melon sized, so be careful. The next storm coming in tonight and tomorrow will result in even heavier rain, particularly in the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia Mtns. Brace yourselves.

11 am – continuous rain, sleet, snow, but not yet sticking, although it is beginning to get slippery outside. Still uploading photos, but I did warn it would be an all day process. I haven’t had a chance to update the weather reports, but they are not looking good. My SLO forecaster is predicting 3-5 inches of rain in the coastal mountains. That is not good news for the increasingly fragile state of the south end of the highway, nor for the fixing of the Rocky Creek slip out.

9 am – I have received amazingly only an inch here since yesterday morning when I left for parts east and west. I say amazingly, because what I drove through yesterday was easily an inch an hour in many places and at many times. There was snow this morning at 8 am, but it did not stick.

A couple of quick notes, MST district is attempting to see what can be done to provide transportation to and from the slip out. Also, Monterey County is looking to declare this an emergency so that special funds might become available.

I tried to upload some photos taken by local Cal-Trans worker Brandie Kirby, and by our local CHP Officer Ben Grasmuck last night, but was unsuccessful. So, I will try today throughout the day. I have 3 from Ben, and 5 from Brandie. Brandie’s are high resolution, so they took a long time to download, and will take even longer to upload, but they are worth it. Those probably won’t be completely uploaded until this evening, unless I get a very good fast burst of internet.

I am very confident that I speak for the ENTIRE community when I say to both of you, and your fellow workers, you are greatly appreciated, respected, and honored by this community. During times like this, all of you have to put up with so much, under difficult if not impossible circumstances, and we appreciate you more than you can know!

3/17/11 at 2:27 pm by Ben Grasmuck

Okay, one at a time. The next one will be uploaded shortly, but check back throughout the day for news and photos, but I haven’t started the gennie yet, waiting for a break or for my battery power to give out.

3/17/11 at 2:12 pm by Ben Grasmuck

3/17/11 at 8:32 am by Ben Grasmuck

Weather not only affecting the road, it is affecting my internet!! Still trying to get all the photos posted. I had to resize Brandie’s as they were WAY to large. Will see what I can do.

These next five photos by Brandie tell quite the story. Each will be marked with the date but the time metadata is incorrect, as one fully daylight photo is marked with 10:30 pm. Without seeing the camera, I cannot guess as to whether it is just the am/pm or some other time discrepancy.

3/15/11 by Brandie Kirby

3/16/11 by Brandie Kirby

3/16/11 by Brandie Kirby

3/16/11 by Brandie Kirby

3/16/11 by Brandie Kirby

ET Phone Home

8:30 pm – well, that was the longest 12 hour town trip I’ve had in a while. Besides what I reported below, it started snowing on South Coast Ridge Rd. and covered the road and the surrounding area with snow. Been a long time since I drove in the snow, and in the dark, too? I can’t remember the last time, if I ever have.

People driving on N-F Rd. are idiots, they don’t believe in staying on their own side, so be very cautious around the turns. As I said in one of my posts, MoCo is on the road coverage this weekend. Saw the grader this morning and talked to the guys. This evening, saw the grader parked at the Ranger Station near the summit, so available to go east or west. Yay!!

I will be checking on the necessary reports, updates, etc. and then I have some photos to upload from this morning. My day was too busy.

Everyone, check-in here with reports of where you are, what is happening, and keep us all advised of conditions as they develop.

If you have been following me today, you know I am on the road, picking up my Jeep in Watsonville. I am currently stopped at the intersection of 218 and 68, heading back to 101, King City for supplies, gas, and home.

I just went through a down pour between Moss Landing and here that was a nightmare. Highway One was awful. 218 is flooded. I hydroplaned once.

I have emails re conditions in CV and elsewhere, which I cannot respond to right now. I need to get to King City asap, and then home. When I do, I will post again. In the mean time, all ETs out there – phone home below in the comments.

Will check back in when I get home.

Open Letters to the Community

From the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Department:
Dear Big Sur residents,

For some of us here we are again, for others this may be your first extended road closure.

The Fire Brigade met with Cal Trans, some business representatives, the Chamber of Commerce, CPOA, CERT, St. Parks, and the USFS yesterday. Before going into the meeting I had spoken with Sheriff, AMR and CHP representatives. Most of you have seen the email from the Chamber by now regarding the highway. I wanted to address other possible questions, in particular public safety, that you may have.

First I would like to address medical emergencies, including vehicle accidents. AMR, (American Medical Response) will still respond 24/7, the ambulance is stationed at our firehouse for all emergencies requiring an ambulance. CALL 911 as usual!!
Depending on where the emergency is located we have plans in place for transportation, it may be that the patient will need to be transported to Cambria or King City depending on the circumstances. AMR has made sure we will have a crew staffing the ambulance, and has been in touch with Cal Star helicopter and Cambria ambulance making them aware of our situation.

USFS has some crew members and engines available in the remote chance we have a vegetation fire, but more importantly they will help us with a structure fire if needed.

SO is making plans to have a deputy come down and stay here until we get one lane open. They immediately started sending over units to cover from King City the day the road went out. Today they brought down one of the rescue trucks which is being staged at the firehouse if needed.

CHP is also planning on having an officer stay in the area for the duration.

State Parks has rangers here who are peace officers in the off chance something happens while we are between shift changes with CHP and SO.

CERT members are available if needed, they will also be sending out an email to possibly try and schedule town trip needs.

and as always your friendly Fire Brigade members will be responding if needed!

I have spoken with PG&E and they will be sending down a truck and crew starting Saturday night and through Sunday when the worst of the storm is expected. After that they will evaluate conditions to determine if they will continue to stay on longer.

At our meeting yesterday we also discussed things like fuel, garbage, propane etc. As the road is open and passable to the south, my understanding is it will be business as usual.

An email has been sent out regarding any medical needs and medications from the Health Center.

The schools have plans for Captain Cooper and the High school students.

The Post Office hours will be 10:00 to 2:00 PM, with mail delivery as usual. (Not confirmed but I was told that Fed Ex would deliver but not UPS.)

We will have another meeting with Cal Trans when they have more information and after that we may schedule a community meeting. We will do our best to get information out via emails.

Thank you to all the agencies for so quickly stepping up to the plate to help us out. It is very much appreciated.

And last but not least thank you to Cal Trans for all your work, everyone please be careful out there driving, look out for Cal Trans units working in the road way!

Please feel free to call the Fire Brigade with any questions I may not have covered here, 667-2113. Meanwhile, enjoy the quiet time and be safe!

Thank you,

Martha

Martha Karstens
Chief
831-667-2113 W
831-595-9461 C
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From the Big Sur Health Clinic:

At this point, we have no idea how long the road will be closed. If you take routine medications, it is very important that you take steps now to assure that you don’t run out.

If you receive your medication via mail order, check your supply and order refills well in advance. We have been advised that the mail will continue to be delivered.

If you don’t already receive your prescriptions via mail, now is the time to start! Contact your insurance company and make arrangements to set up your mail order plan, then contact the health center to get your prescriptions ordered.

If you do not have the capability of accessing a mail order pharmacy, it is extremely important that you check your supply of medications and contact your pharmacy to request refills now!

An alternative option, to avoid driving all the way to Monterey, is to select either Cambria Drugs or CVS in King City, then advise the health center staff to change your pharmacy location. It is important that you take care of this now to avoid running out. Do not wait until you are down to the last day or two as refills may not be completed in time to coincide with your trip to the pharmacy.

The Health Center remains open and available to you at this time.

Sharen Carey
Big Sur Health Center
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From CHP Officer Ben Grasmuck:

I just wanted to add a few things to your post(s). We were very lucky we didn’t lose one of the Caltrans maintenance crew workers yesterday. They were standing on the southbound lane when it started to give way. They are often under appreciated, but the Big Sur and Willow Creek crews are some of the hardest working and dedicated workers the state has.
I want to personally thank all of the locals I talked to today. As frustrating as this is, (most) everyone was understanding and trusted Caltrans’ judgment that the road cannot be declared safe until they test the soil under the northbound lane. It may be okay to drive across the lane and shoulder, but there is no way to know that right now. Next week they will drill some holes and see what is under the northbound lane. Until then, the road will likely be closed for all traffic (vehicle, bicycle, pedestrian).
I was able to take a few more photos with a real camera (the others were taken with my iPhone). I love the irony of the “Rock Slide Area” sign.

Ben Grasmuck
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From Big Sur Chamber of Commerce:

This afternoon (3/17/2011) at 3:00 PM, a number of community members ranging from Big Sur Chamber of Commerce, CPOA, CDPR, USFS, Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade, CERT, and various residents and business members met in an ad-hoc meeting with Steve Price, District Division Chief – Maintenance and Operations for the Department of Transportation District 5 (Caltrans). At that meeting, Steve Price conveyed the following information:

Caltrans full focus and number one priority at this time is to restore access to one lane (the north bound lane) of Highway 1 at the slide location. Given the time requirements to conduct geotechnical analysis and to award an emergency contract, the current best case scenario is to accomplish this goal within one month. Thus, for planning purposes the community should plan on Highway 1 being closed to the north for at least one month. Following the completion of the one lane opening, the second lane opening would become the next priority, though the planning and execution of that stage would likely require a significantly more extensive planning and execution period.

If weather or other environmental conditions or the underlying site conditions make it impossible to restore access to the north bound lane, then a far more complex and time intensive planning period will unfold to install an appropriate viaduct, bridge, or other constructed solution to restore access to both lanes of Highway 1. Steve Price stated that he has full authority and access to funding resources to award appropriate emergency contracts to effect these repairs, both short and long term, so the biggest hurdles appear to be the underlying geological stability of the site, the potential impacts of upcoming weather events, and the time and effort needed to properly study and prepare engineered solutions.

All contractors on the Highway 1 projects between this location and Cambria will be advised that they must not plan for any closures that would result in Highway 1 being closed both north and south at the same time.

The closure at the Rocky Creek is a hard closure and until further notice will not be able to accommodate any vehicle traffic including emergency vehicles.

Nacimiento-Ferguson road is currently open and in very good condition. Monterey County Public Works is committed until further notice to inspecting and maintaining this road twice a day. Caltrans, though, is recommending that the general public use Highway 46 as the primary access between Highway 101 and Highway 1.

The Big Sur Chamber of Commerce will continue to regularly interface with Caltrans and other agencies associated with the efforts to reopen Highway 1 and will provide updated information reports as new information becomes available.

Thank you.

Kirk Gafill
President, Big Sur Chamber of Commerce