Tag: Big Sur

Road & Rain Conditions, 1/13/17

Caltrans Afternoon Update – Monterey  Hwy 1 Closure Update at 3 pm

State Route 1 is closed from Ragged Point (SLO PM 72.87) to Lucia (MON PM 23.00) due to rock/mudslides and trees down in multiple locations.  Motorists may travel south on Hwy. 1 from Carmel to Lucia or travel north from Cambria to Ragged Point.  In addition, there is a full closure on Hwy. 1 at Mud Creek (MON PM 8.88) due to a mud/rock slides within the existing boundary of this closure.     Hwy 1 is open to local residents traveling south who will be escorted through Paul’s slide (MON PM 21.6) to Gorda (PM 10) until 4 pm this afternoon. This escort will also take place from 8 am until 3 pm Saturday, Jan. 14 and Sunday, Jan. 15.  An update will be provided at 12 noon tomorrow.

Jim Shivers

Caltrans District 5

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High water on Rocky Creek forced a culvert to fail and cause a section of Palo Colorado Road to slide on Thursday. (Vern Fisher – Monterey Herald)

10 am –

For Immediate Release
January 13,2017
PALO COLORADO ROAD CLOSURE AT APPROXIMATELY MILE POST 3.3

The Monterey County Resource Management Agency – Public Works announces the closure of Palo Colorado Road as a result of a culvert/road section failure. The failure is due to flooding on Rocky Creek associated with the recent storms. Palo Colorado Road will be closed until further notice at approximately Mile Post 3.3, which is past the Fire Station but before Long Ridge Road.

Local and through traffic will not have vehicular access beyond that location.

Palo Colorado Road will be closed for an extended period of time (at least 30 days). However, RMA Public Works engineering staff will be evaluating damages to the road and will develop a plan to provide needed repairs as swiftly as possible. This is a major issue, and will require substantial road reconstruction.

For additional information, please contact County of Monterey Resource Management Agency Division of Public Works at (831)-755-4925 and our County website listed below.

http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-i-z/resource-management-agency/public-works/road-conditions-closures

8:30 am – and from the Mid-Coast Fire Brigade:
Cheryl Goetz, Mid-Coast LEAD
Anyone living above the Rocky Creek-crossing approx 3 miles up the road on Palo will be hard closed! Only emergency equipment allowed due to the road base deterioration. Plan accordingly for a possible long closure!

8:00 am –
Good morning everyone,

Thank you for your patience in receiving our updates.

Update to the Public and Locals:

Thankfully, the slide at Esalen (PM 33.10) was cleared last night, so the northern closure will move down to Lucia (PM 23) at 8 am. 200 cubic yards of slide material came down Mud Creek (PM 8.8) last night, so the southern closure remains at Ragged Pt. (SLO, PM 72.87).

LOCAL RESIDENTS, EMERGENCY SERVICES AND EMPLOYEES will have access to
and from Ragged Pt. to Pitkins (PM 21) but will most likely have to be escorted around Mud Creek. There is also still an active slide at Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6).

HWY. 1 REMAINS CLOSED from Ragged Pt. (SLO PM 72.87) to Lucia (PM 23) as of 8 am.

5 am – fortunately we have several days of clear weather in which to recuperate and clean up. The highway is still closed to the motoring public from the Fuller/Grimes area to the County Line. LOCALS ONLY MAY be able to get through from south of Paul’s Slide to Ragged Point, and from Lucia north, but Paul’s Slide is problematic. If you are NOT a local, please do not try to travel in the closed areas, as you could be a ticket, get stuck, or worse, and cell reception is virtually non-existent.

There is also a slide at Esalen, which requires driving on the shoulder. The Willow Springs crew managed to open one lane at Mud Creek before dark last night, but did not expect it to stay open over night, as it continued to ooze. Moon and stars were quite bright after all the cloud cover. IF you are out and about at all today, be patient, obey closure signs, and thank a Cal Trans worker.

Here is the slide at Esalen, photo by Dawn Fielding of Esalen.

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Since I am able to upload photos, I suspect my satellite is sufficiently recovered to be back to what passes for “normal” for me.

Rain & Road Conditions

5:30 am – Highway One still closed to through traffic. Numerous other roads closed in Monterey County, San Benito County, Santa Cruz County, and Santa Clara County. Fortunately, we will get a few days to dry off before the next rounds begin next week, after this morning’s rain subsides.

Fernwood Slide

Here is a great photo by Michael Troutman of the mess we all seem to have dubbed the Fernwood Slide.

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This is not likely the end of it, though depending on the upcoming rains. IF, as I have heard, there is a chance of 10 inches in 3 days coming up, then this slide will continue and possibly get worse. Rock Knocker and I have been watching this spot since the fire, as have many of you.

Michael Troutman had this to say:

“I sought out and found a geologist/soil engineer working for Caltrans, as I was greatly interested in why the actual slide was not precisely where the debris flow was yesterday.

It turns out that there is no main water course directly above on the surface, but this is actually from water percolating out through the rock from a very large area of the huge slope above; there is so much water the rock can no longer contain it. What happened is that where I photographed it yesterday was not ultimately the path of least resistance. When the water saturation reached some sort of critical mass it found a different way through the base of the hill just a few hundred feet north of the area I was in yesterday…and so finally *BAM* the whole damn hillside just came down.”

Personally, I don’t think this is over. There is too much winter left, too much water already percolating, too much burn area affected – no matter what happens the rest of January, we are in for a rough ride, but if we are lucky, and hold our heads  just right, add the necessary tin foil, this year will NOT repeat the winter of 1978.

Highway Closure Extended, 1/9/17

3:30 pm – Sig Alert update SLO-1-72.9-MON-1-47.3) SR-1 Ragged Point to Fernwood remains closed overnight. CHP manning Fernwood. Emer veh ok @ Ragged Point

1pm update from Cal Tran –

Good afternoon everyone,

The status on Hwy. 1 is this: There are still multiple slides from Ragged Point (SLO PM 72.87) to Fullers (Mon PM 42.15). There are several trees down and across the Highway at Fernwood (Mon PM 47.03)

In essence, businesses are accessible between Fullers (PM 42.15) and Fernwood (PM 47.03), but in essence, to the general public outside of these post miles, Hwy. 1 is closed from Fernwood (PM 47.03) to Ragged Point (SLO PM 72.87)

Emergency vehicles will be able to get through, if safely passable at the time of need.

The recording will be updated to reflect the new closure parameters, but the Big Sur Chamber will notify the locals who may be between the Fullers and Fernwood Closures that businesses remain open.

Thank you all for your understanding and patience. Asides from Monterey County and the Big Sur Community, we have various slides, trees down and roads closed in Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties. An update will be provided this afternoon after 4 pm, when I receive it.

9:15 am – closure about to be extended again to Fernwood. See photo on next post.

From Caltrans

Good morning everyone,

Thank you for your patience with these updates. It’s not looking good for Hwy. 1 today; there are multiple slides all over the place…THERE IS A NEW AND MAJOR SLIDE JUST SOUTH OF NEPENTHE—between the Henry Miller Library and Nepenthe…more than likely, an emergency contract for repairs will need to take place.

So, the Hwy. 1 Closure is from Ragged Pt. (SLO PM 72.87) to Ventana Entrance (Mon PM 44.59).

Another assessment will take place around 4 PM and I’ll update as soon as possible; I’ll also provide a picture or two when available.

Have a safe day!
Susana Z. Cruz
Caltrans District 5
Public Information Officer/
Portavoz de Relaciones Públicas
para Caltrans en el Distrito 5
805.549.3138
805.549.3326–fax

Rain and Road Reports, 1/9/17

2:30 pm – From Lucas Cotterman of Partington

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And another, possibly near JPB? Photo by Erin Boubel

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10:30 Photos to the south. It is dangerous, but passable for the moment. Photos by Inga Dorosz of Gorda:

 

10 am – Brian just came back from checking this out and has this to say:

“Just came back from the fernwood slide on from the south. Multiple power lines down and a there was a car pushed off the road when it slid. Everyone is safe. I think this one will take quite awhile to clear.”

South of Fernwood. Photo by Jen Smith:

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8 am – From Todd:

“Had a slip not far in from hoist has left less than six feet of road. Impassable at this time. This is where one of the retaining walls burnt out during the fire. ”

First up from Sander Koning, near Nepenthe:

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Paul’s Slide – night photo

Photo by Brendon Shave

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If anyone thinks they are going to get through, show them this.

River Photos

By Brendon Shave, with the exception of the first one of the loader, which is by a SF Chronicle journalist.

Highway One to close tonight

UPDATE; Around 7:30 pm, the closure was pushed back to Fuller’s at MM 42. I know there is a tree blocking both lanes near Esalen, and there may be other issues I haven’t heard about.

Highway 1 will be closing at 4:30 PM tonight from Ragged Point to Lucia (MM 23)

Rain & Road Reports, Sunday, 1/8/17

Incident: 00329 Type: Traffic Hazard Location: SR1 / BIG CREEK Loc Desc: NB JSO Lat/Lon: 36.069587 -121.599060
Detail Information
1:36 PM 2 [3] 1039 DOT
1:36 PM 1 [2] LARGE BOULDER NB LANE

11:30 – Due to the current weather and road conditions, CPOA is postponing its Annual Meeting that was scheduled for this coming Tuesday. A new date will be announced in the near future.

oh, and btw, it is POURING here!

10 am – Several of our most talented and knowageable locals went and took a look at the log jam this am and came to this conclusion:

We (4 guys) got out this morning at first light to evaluate the Redwood log jam on the Big Sur River. We sized up the situation under some down pours and gusty winds. The location is north of Saint Francis Church and south of “Dorwood” which is just south of the Grange. We accessed river left from a foot bridge over the river at this location.

The trees are the victims of an eroded river bank on a piece of State Park property and may not be the only trees to ultimately end up in the River. River left is getting scoured and is undermining the root balls of the remaining trees.
(River side determined by facing down stream),

The obvious solution is to cut the ends of the trees in a way that allowed the trunks to rotate parallel with the flow of the river. And I’m prepared to jump in and just do it, but aside from the danger, it is entirely possible that the trunks could realign in a way that took out the remaining bridges (4) downstream. I’d rather not be known as the guy who took out Brewer’s Bridge.

Aside from the issue of staging, which might be insurmountable, getting a crane involved would be hairy as well, under the current circumstances. The river is pulsing with a lot of energy and the hydraulics could easily out wit and out muscle that piece of equipment.

So, as in most things involving nature, I think we let her take her course, cross our fingers and keep an eye on it until the river goes down

Highway One to open at 11 am.

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9 am – San Lorenzo River predicted to top 21 feet by 9 pm this evening. Flood stage is 16.5 feet.

8:30 am –

Big Sur Station Rain Totals:
Storm Total: 4.46″ (since Friday at 4 p.m.)
Overnight Total: 1.4″ (since Saturday at 8 p.m.)
We still have electricity & internet.
The station will be open from 9-4 today. (Thank you Tim Bills)

7:45 am – it has been quiet here since midnight, except for the wind. Most of the lightning and thunder and hail between midnight and 1 am was to the north of here. Little rain at the moment, but predictions are the storm will move southward this afternoon. The road is open north of Lucia, apparently, as I have seen or heard nothing to indicate otherwise. CHP still lists the closures of Palo Colorado, OCR, and south from Lucia to Ragged Point. Crews are probably already out down here on the south end taking care of the constant slides. I am actually going to get my first cup of coffee before 8 am this morning. As always, I will be monitoring throughout the day. Stay safe and aware.

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.