ALERT: California- Mudslide in Big Sur (May 24, 2017)

May 24, 2017

A mudslide has severely damaged part of Highway 1 in California’s Big Sur, a popular tourist destination.

According to the San Francisco Gate:

The isolation that came to Big Sur this year when wet weather closed several roads has deepened with a giant mudslide across Highway 1, just south of the small community of Gorda (Monterey County).

A quarter-mile-wide wall of mud and rock barreled over an oceanfront stretch of road Saturday night, fortunately on a section of the highway where there was no traffic because the area was already closed due to smaller slides.

The new slide is certain to postpone the opening of Highway 1 at Big Sur’s southern end, a link to the dramatic coastline that was expected to open in mid-June.

The Associated Press reports:

Big Sur is one of the state’s biggest tourist draws in a normal year, attracting visitors to serene groves of redwoods, beaches and the dramatic ocean scenery along narrow, winding Highway 1.

This winter has been particularly rough for Big Sur, state transportation spokesman Colin Jones said. Repeated landslides and floods have taken out bridges and highways, closed campgrounds, and forced some resorts to shut down temporarily or use helicopters to fly in guests and supplies.

Even before the weekend damage, the state had closed the Highway 1 along Mud Creek to repair buckled pavement and remove debris after an earlier slide.

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