Rains Wash Away Part of California’s Iconic Highway 1 Near Big Sur, Stranding Tourists, Locals

Spring rains washed away a section of California’s famous Highway 1 near Big Sur on Saturday, leaving 1,600 people stranded and having to drive through the collapsed section in a motorcade.

of san francisco chronicle report:

California Department of Transportation engineers were investigating a slide Saturday that forced the closure of Highway 1 south of the Rocky Creek Bridge in Palo Colorado, state officials announced Sunday. Part of the southbound lane collapsed, leaving an estimated 1,600 residents and visitors stranded. At one point, rain was falling at a rate of 2 inches per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
…

Caltrans spokesman Kevin Drabinski said the landslide did not continue to erode after the initial slide, and the northbound road remained clear. As a result, convoys through the Highway 1 closure area will be offered twice a day starting Sunday.

An estimated 300 cars were waiting northbound when the convoy first departed around noon. It took him 50 minutes to remove all the waiting vehicles. This likely included people who visited Big Sur over the Easter weekend, were stranded by the shutdown, and had to spend the night in temporary lodging or emergency shelters. The convoy was scheduled to alternate directions and depart in both directions starting Monday at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Highway 1 has previously been damaged by winter and spring storms. Three years ago, a section of road near Big Sur was washed away, Breitbart News reported at the time. During a particularly wet winter in 2017, a landslide on the road stranded residents of the local community and took 14 months to complete repairs.