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Along the Central Coast, California’s scenic Highway 1 is closed 20 miles south of Big Sur after a stretch of the causeway collapsed when the cliff below gave way in torrential rain.
Photos of the highway show a huge stretch of road missing, with the north and south lanes washed away.
Caltrans spokesman Jim Shivers said the damage to the freeway was called a slip. “This is where we lose part of the highway and now we are faced with a project to clean up and repair that stretch,” said Shivers. “This is the only place we know of where this happened during the storm. Our maintenance team is now patrolling the highway for further damage.
Shivers said it was not known when the road would reopen, but engineers are assessing the situation and should have more information later today.
Route 1 between MPM 40 and the San Luis Obispo county line is closed due to inclement weather, debris flows, flooding and landslides, the California Highway Patrol said.
CHP MontereyThe closure is at Rat Creek between 40 MPM and the San Luis Obispo county line, the California Highway Patrol said.
The Big Sur coastline is prone to landslides and in 2017, a slide closed a stretch of road for over a year.
“Anyone who knows the history of Route 1 knows that once we get into the rainy season, slips of varying degrees, slips, rock slides are what we are faced with and what we know is happening. will produce, ”Shivers said.
An atmospheric river has plunged California this week, with the central coast receiving the most precipitation. Mudslides in the town of Salinas, Monterey County on Wednesday damaged about two dozen homes. The hill above the area surrounding River Road was susceptible to landslides after last summer’s River Fire set the landscape on fire and made it more prone to erosion.
A peak in the Santa Lucia Mountains received 16 inches of rain Tuesday through Friday. The city of Monterey recorded 3.46. Before the storm, Monterey had only seen 2.14 inches since October 1.
The stormy weather fades on Friday. The Central Coast region, the San Francisco Bay Area and other areas in the north are expected to remain dry, even if they are cloudy, throughout the weekend.
Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and cross the sky. They occur all over the world but are particularly prominent on the west coast of the United States, where they create 30-50% of annual precipitation and are linked to water supplies and issues such as floods and landslides. field, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Atmospheric River is part of a major climate change for California, which has experienced significant drought conditions for months. Drought contributed to the forest fires that burned more than 4.2 million acres in 2020, the largest in recorded modern history.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Route 1 between MPM 40 and the San Luis Obispo county line is closed due to inclement weather, debris flows, flooding and landslides, the California Highway Patrol said.
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