Rain, mud slides, El Nino coming to CA!

Status in California right now -

If you haven't noticed the news, we've had two major mud slides in the past few days, thanks to flash floods and portions of a mountain giving way. I-5 was closed for a number of hours, and they are still cleaning up the off-highway mess. Vehicles, including semis, were trapped in the mud. Not just a little mud, but a LOT of mud. As we always tell folks on these forums, though, CalTrans and other emergency crews worked their tails off to clear I-5 and get that road opened.

CA-58 is still closed from Mojave (CA-14) to Tehachapi (CA-202). There is still no date for re-opening. It was hit far harder with mud slides than I-5, but they are working hard to try to get it reopened.

There are a few alternatives to go from southern to northern California (or vice versa), if one wants to avoid I-5 and usually uses CA-58.

US-101 and CA-1: still open all the way.

I-15 to CA-138 to I-5 at Gorman (or vice versa).

And, of course, there is I-15 to US-395 to CA-178 or CA-120 (Tioga Pass, as long as it's open) or CA-89/US-50 or all the way up to I-80.

I'm bringing this up because the weather-guessers are predicting heavier-than-average rainfall for California this year, an El Nino. In most ways, I'm kind of glad - we've been in an unbelievable drought, and our reservoirs are really, really down. We need to refill them. Of course, we don't want to refill them all at once, because the results usually bring flash flooding, mud-slides, and other destruction. Many parts of California were built without street drainage -- I know, that wasn't very forward-thinking on the part of the planning commissions. So there are reports that people's homes are getting flooded out on the first floor. (The area in which I teach was hard hit by an August rainstorm that flooded at least two dozen homes, including some occupied by my students and their families.)

Anyway, FWIW ....

Donna