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Tag: road

  • Brutal storm will make direct hit on L.A. County; people urged to avoid driving if possible

    Brutal storm will make direct hit on L.A. County; people urged to avoid driving if possible

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    With this week’s monster storm now expected to make a direct hit on Los Angeles County on Sunday and Monday, officials are urging people to stay off roads amid concerns about flooding and mudslides.

    The intense, sustained rains are going to make for an ugly and potentially dangerous Monday commute, and officials said people should avoid being on the roads if possible.

    “If anyone has an opportunity to work remotely on Monday, that’s definitely the day to do it,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

    Forecast worsens for L.A.

    The forecast rain totals for Los Angeles County worsened Sunday, with totals generally going up by about 2 inches in some areas. It’s now possible that, by the time this storm tapers off Tuesday, Pasadena could see around 10 inches of rain; with about 7 inches in Northridge, Pomona and Santa Clarita; about 6 inches in downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and Westlake Village; and about 5 inches in Redondo Beach.

    If these totals hold true, the Southland is likely to see widespread flooding and mudflows and debris flows in hillside areas, especially those hit by recent fires.

    Danger on roads

    “We’re expecting a lot of freeway flooding and road flooding, road closures. Many parked cars will be flooded… especially in low-lying areas of neighborhoods,” Kittell said. “Even if the rain does start to let up on Monday morning, just the sheer amount of rain overnight will cause lingering flooding issues into the morning hours,” Kittell said. “Especially, stay off the freeways.”

    Kittell added: “Any areas that are vulnerable to mudslides — this definitely has the signature for that, especially as you get closer to Los Angeles County, but also including Ventura and Santa Barbara County.” Expect plenty of mud, rocks and debris on canyon roads, “flooded neighborhoods,” and the potential for people living near creeks and rivers to need rescue from strong flows.

    ‘Stay home’

    “If you are not home already, please get home and stay home. Stay off the roads,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. “As we anticipate this weather event continuing into the next couple of days, if you are able to work remotely, please stay home.”

    L.A. City Council President Paul Krekorian said the anticipated amount of rainfall is rare for Los Angeles, and noted that “we’ve only had this kind of intensity twice before in the last over 40 years, so take it seriously.”

    “If you absolutely have to drive, slow down,” Krekorian said. “Don’t drive through flooded areas — there are going to be potholes. There are going to be dangers, and you’re going to be putting not only yourself but others on the road at risk as well.”

    Some Los Angeles County employees are being advised to work from home Monday, said Lindsey Horvath, chair of the county Board of Supervisors.

    Last week’s storm was far less powerful but caused significant street flooding.

    On Thursday, inundated roads clogged the morning commute, closing southbound lanes of the 710 Freeway at Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach and a portion of PCH at the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica. In Huntington Beach, a three-mile stretch of PCH was also shut down by flooding.

    Almost seven miles of Palos Verdes Drive South from Hawthorne Boulevard to Palos Verdes Drive East closed for a few hours Thursday because of flooding and a mudslide that left debris and mud across the roadway, with authorities urging residents to “shelter in place until the heavy rain passes.”

    Floodwaters also submerged vehicles in low-lying areas of Long Beach on Thursday.

    Worse than Hilary?

    For some of the populous areas of Southern California, this storm will bring winds that will actually be “much stronger” than Tropical Storm Hilary in August, especially in the lower elevations, Kittell said.

    Hilary brought most of its rain on the inland side of Southern California’s mountains and in the deserts; this weekend’s storm is focused on “the coastal side of the mountain — so where a lot of people live … the urban, city areas along the coast and valleys, and the south-facing foothills,” he added.

    Schools

    The L.A. Unified School District will hold classes Monday.

    “Our schools represent more than just education. They are the places where many of our kids receive their nutrition,” Supt. Alberto Carvalho said. “After this weekend, many will depend on that breakfast, the lunch, the snack and in many cases, a dinner. Our schools will be open.”

    But recognizing the threat of the storm, Carvalho also said parents and staff should not put themselves in danger Monday.

    “We will be exercising a great deal of grace, of patience and understanding both with our students as well as our workforce,” Carvalho said. “I urge parents and the workforce to make decisions on the basis of what you know surrounding your community and your journey to your school or place of work. Do not put yourself in danger.”

    More safety information

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    Rong-Gong Lin II, Hayley Smith

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  • Northern California deluge leaves some residents trapped for days, and more rain is on the way

    Northern California deluge leaves some residents trapped for days, and more rain is on the way

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    Torrential rains over the holiday weekend have left Humboldt County reeling, with several roads flood-damaged and impassable, and more rain is on the way.

    “The storm came and hit us hard on Saturday,” said Thomas Mattson, the county public works director. He said his agency had been working round the clock to repair washed-out roads that had left some residents stranded.

    In Redwood Valley, off Highway 299, flooding from the Mad River damaged both main access roads Saturday, cutting off residents from outside aid. The 113-mile river flows northwest through the county and the rural unincorporated community. Repairs to the roads were not expected to be completed until late Wednesday.

    Eureka’s daily newspaper the Times-Standard reported that at least 30 households were struggling with flooded homes and power outages amid dwindling supplies and no way to access help.

    During an eight-hour stretch Saturday, 2 to 5 inches of rain fell throughout Humboldt County, according to Tyler Jewel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Eureka office. The community of Whitethorn recorded nearly 8 inches of rainfall.

    “It’s a very small watershed,” Jewel said. “This last storm just happened to dump a ton of rain there. … It’s really rare for that river to flood.”

    Mattson said the county’s public works crews had reopened 15 flooded roads since Saturday but were still dealing with half a dozen that sustained serious damage.

    Ryan Derby, emergency services manager with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, said there had been “county-wide flooding” over the last several days. The agency declared a local state of emergency Tuesday to expedite emergency repairs and state and federal aid.

    Derby said flooding from the Mad River affected Tyee City and other agricultural land in that area, along with parts of Mad River Road, or what’s locally known as the “Arcata Bottom.”

    Small creeks and streams overflowed into the Blue Lake area, not far from the Blue Lake Rancheria tribal land, about a 10-minute drive from Arcata.

    Other flooding stretched from Hoopa in the north down to Shelter Cove in the southwestern tip of the county along the coast.

    Some of the affected areas are “sparsely populated,” Derby said, and no evacuation orders were issued, though some residents fled during the rainstorms on Saturday. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

    County officials are still assessing how much damage was caused by the rain so far, Derby added, and they will meet Thursday to discuss the situation and this weekend’s expected rain. Derby said the county is referring affected residents to the Red Cross at (800) 733-2767.

    Derby said the storms caused damage to county roads and culverts, and with more rain set to arrive Friday, he worries that additional flooding could interfere with recovery efforts.

    “It’s not anticipated to be as severe,” he said of the rain forecast. “But there could be compounding factors with the incoming storm that pose additional issues.”

    Forecasts indicate 2 to 3 inches of rainfall are expected throughout Humboldt County — though the King mountain range in the southwest could receive up to 5 inches — between Friday and Monday, with the first wave of rainfall arriving Friday morning through Saturday morning and the second from Saturday night until Monday afternoon.

    Higher rainfall amounts of 4 to 6 inches were expected throughout Mendocino County south of Humboldt, with both the Russian and Navarro rivers having the potential to flood, Jewel said.

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    Jeremy Childs, Hannah Wiley

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  • ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special: “The Church on Ruby Road”

    ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special: “The Church on Ruby Road”

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    Mal and Jo are back to discuss “The Church on Ruby Road,” this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special, and how it stacks up against the show’s holiday specials of years past (6:41). Then they dive deep into the episode that introduces the series’ newest companion, Ruby Sunday (18:03).

    Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson
    Producer: Kai Grady
    Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal
    Social: Jomi Adeniran

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Stitcher / Pandora / Google Podcasts

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    Mallory Rubin

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  • Furiosa trailer takes Mad Max fans back to the Fury Road

    Furiosa trailer takes Mad Max fans back to the Fury Road

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    It’s time to return to the Fury Road in search of Valhalla in the new Mad Max spinoff, Furiosa. The prequel got its first trailer on Thursday that showed off the early tribulations of the future-Imperator. Furiosa is set for release on May 24, 2024.

    As the name implies, Furiosa focuses on Imperator Furiosa, the main character from Mad Max: Fury Road originally played by Charlize Theron. This movie takes us back to her younger days and puts Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit, The Menu) in the role instead.

    Along with Taylor-Joy, the movie stars Chris Hemsworth as some kind of villainous master of ceremonies in the wasteland, and a Young Immortan Joe. The story appears to give us a full origin of Furiosa, from when she was taken from her family to when she joined up with Joe to lead the War Boys.

    Returning to the franchise for the fifth time is also director and Mad Max creator George Miller, who is now 78 years old but clearly still kicking it. Miller co-wrote Furiosa with Nick Lathouris, who has been involved with Mad Max since the first movie in 1979 and also co-wrote Fury Road.

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    Austen Goslin

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  • “We had a plan and then things kept moving”: battered yet enduring, Highway 1 remains closed

    “We had a plan and then things kept moving”: battered yet enduring, Highway 1 remains closed

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    When a series of atmospheric rivers flowed into California last January, the Big Sur coastline was quickly swamped, and Highway 1, a lone life raft connecting San Simeon in the south and the Monterey Peninsula to the north, was overcome.

    Long vulnerable to the whims of nature, the iconic serpentine is especially susceptible to landslides, debris flows and terrain ever bowing to the weight of water, no more so than a lonely and lovely stretch of road just south of the New Camaldoli Hermitage and the nearly forgotten outpost, Lucia, and just north of redwood-forested Limekiln State Park and the Ragged Point headlands.

    Here at Paul’s Slide, fencing and K-rails were no match for last winter’s deluge that piled stones, mud and debris over the pavement, forcing Caltrans to stop traffic and once again create two of the most picturesque cul-de-sacs in California, if not the country.

    Ten months later — even with crews working seven days a week throughout most of the year — the road is still closed, and holiday travelers, hoping to take in the broad vistas of sea and sky en route to destinations north or south, will be frustrated, having to settle for Highway 101 or even Interstate 5.

    The effect of last week’s rain on the construction site is not known, but with an El Niño-fueled winter ahead, no one is making any predictions.

    “Highway 1 is a dynamic location due to the geography and nature,” said Jim Shivers, public information officer for Caltrans’ District 5. “It is always in a state of movement. In recent weeks we have been able to make good progress … but the exact opening is unknown.”

    Famously troublesome, Paul’s Slide has long been scrutinized by geologists ever mindful of the large movements of land along this edge of the continent. Unlike Mud Creek 13 miles to the south — where one Saturday morning in May 2017, a hillside collapsed, sloughing an estimated 1.5 million tons of rock and mud over the highway and into the Pacific — Paul’s Slide is less dramatic.

    But, said Shivers, “each incident on the Big Sur coast is different; no two situations are the same. When you talk about Mud Creek, an entire mountain came down and took out the highway and spilled into the ocean. That was a major landslide.”

    Paul’s Slide, however, is a different geological phenomena. It moves slowly yet persistently, raining the highway with debris and topsoil and ever gradually shifting underneath to the weight of water and gravity. One-lane closures are not uncommon.

    Earlier this year, as designers for Caltrans completed one set of blueprints for rerouting Highway 1 in the aftermath of last winter’s storms — and as contractors began to line up their skip loaders and dump trucks — Paul’s Slide shifted a second time, according to Shivers, requiring a new design and causing new delays.

    “We had a plan,” said Shivers, “and then things kept moving.”

    The new and improved road will eventually take travelers further inland and slightly higher, according to Shivers.

    Until then, the two scenic dead ends invite travelers to linger without traffic, without rushing, without a destination in mind — before turning around and going back the way they came.

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    Thomas Curwen

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  • Love-seeking tarantula causes crash in Death Valley; motorcyclist is hospitalized

    Love-seeking tarantula causes crash in Death Valley; motorcyclist is hospitalized

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    Desert tarantulas aren’t considered poisonous to humans. That doesn’t mean, however, that they can’t be dangerous.

    A trio of international travelers learned this lesson over the weekend when the brown, hairy spider’s appearance caused a two-vehicle accident in Death Valley National Park that sent one man to the hospital.

    A Canadian motorcyclist crashed Saturday afternoon into the back of a camper rented by a Swiss couple who suddenly stopped in the middle of the road to provide safe passage for a desert tarantula crawling across the highway, according to national park officials.

    The Swiss tourists “were fine,” according to park spokesperson Abby Wines, but the biker was transported via ambulance, roughly 100 miles, to Desert View Hospital in Pahrump, Nev.

    Wines said his injuries “were non-life-threatening,” but no update on the man’s condition was available.

    The spider, according to park officials, “walked away unscathed.”

    Seeing a tarantula above ground is unusual. Park officials said the spider spends most of its time underground. Fall happens to be the one season 8- to 10-year-old male tarantulas leave “their burrows to search for a mate.”

    Female tarantulas are more deadly for males than any wayward car or motorcycle: The females often kill and eat males after mating.

    Park officials described the eight-legged creature, both male and female, as “slow moving and nonaggressive” and said their nonpoisonous bite is “similar to a bee sting.”

    The accident took place along the two-lane California State Route 190 near Towne Pass, which provides western access to the national park.

    “Please drive slowly, especially going down steep hills in the park,” said Mike Reynolds, superintendent of Death Valley National Park, in a statement.

    Reynolds was the first park employee to survey the accident scene.

    “Our roads still have gravel patches due to flood damage, and wildlife of all sizes are out,” he said.

    Part of the state route that was closed due to flooding was reopened on Oct. 15, while other parts of the park and adjacent roadways are still closed.

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    Andrew J. Campa

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  • Oh my gourd! Truck fire chars 5,000 pumpkins on 5 Freeway

    Oh my gourd! Truck fire chars 5,000 pumpkins on 5 Freeway

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    Oh my gourd. Are those blazing jack-o’-lanterns on the road or did 5,000 pumpkins go up in flames on the 5 Freeway?

    It’s the latter.

    Only days before Halloween, a truckload of gourds sizzled on the side of the freeway near the Smokey Bear Road exit in Lebec around 2 a.m. Wednesday after a truck carrying them caught fire, according to authorities. The California Highway Patrol said nobody was injured.

    The pumpkins were on their way south from Van Groningen & Sons farm in Manteca to a buyer in Los Angeles when the blaze broke out.

    When the company’s president, Ryan Van Groningen, heard about the loss of gourds, he said he was concerned only about the driver of the truck.

    “Pumpkins can be replaced but human lives can’t,” he said.

    Halloween enthusiasts who have yet to buy a pumpkin for carving need not worry: Van Groningen said his farm has a scary amount of pumpkins to replace those lost in the fire.

    “In the overall scheme of things there is definitely plenty more to go,” he said.

    Video taken at the scene shows firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department battling the flames amid the charred Halloween gourds.

    The pumpkins spilled out of the back of the truck onto the road, blocking the exit. Authorities shut down a lane of the southbound 5 Freeway due to the fire.

    It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, but the firefighters seemed to be enjoying themselves, with one first responder smiling and carrying two pumpkins, one in each hand, away from the scene, video showed.

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    Noah Goldberg

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  • Dedicated bus lanes: Why CBD-Sonatubes-Giporoso road was selected – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Dedicated bus lanes: Why CBD-Sonatubes-Giporoso road was selected – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    Dedicated bus lanes: Why CBD-Sonatubes-Giporoso road was selected Original Author Link click here to read complete story.. … Read More

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    MMP News Author

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  • Damn Hard Road

    Damn Hard Road

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    Damn Hard Road. I've had worse withdrawals, but God damn getting sober has taken away all will to live. I feel like in a new and different way that's somehow al

    Damn Hard Road. I've had worse withdrawals, but God damn getting sober has taken away all will to live. I feel like in a new and different way that's somehow al

    I’ve had worse withdrawals, but God damn getting sober has taken away all will to live. I feel like **** in a new and different way that’s somehow almost worse. It’s almost like drastically altering your brain chemistry will effect your emotions or something.

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  • Lake George water study could delay commercial construction

    Lake George water study could delay commercial construction

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    LAKE GEORGE — The Village Board is expected to announce a moratorium on any new commercial property water hookups in the town outside of the village in order to conduct a 10- to 12-week water study.

    The board will vote on the resolution at its December meeting. The moratorium is proposed for six months.

    According to a news release from the village, the board hired C.T. Male Engineering to conduct a study of the village’s water system to evaluate options for the growing needs of the area.

    Lake George Town Supervisor Dennis Dickinson said Richard Schermerhorn’s plans to develop housing at the former site of Water Slide World was a driving force in deciding to conduct the study.

    “We’ve had some interest from developers for large water usage projects and the village has enough water, but they want to make sure they can get to the volume needed for these projects, so that prompted us to have the water study done,” Dickinson said.

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    The village of Lake George water filtration system currently serves over 1,800 residents and businesses in the town and village of the Lake George. The town and village boards have agreed to conduct a study looking at options to continue to provide water services to the growing development in the area.




    While the town and village both operate water filtration plants, the town-operated facility in Diamond Point serves fewer than 100 residents with a well water system, while the village plant serves over 1,800 residents in the village and town with more than 1,400 water service connections.

    Currently, the village water is pumped directly from Lake George by a pump station on Beach Road to a modern water filtration station on Ottawa Street and distributed throughout the system.

    The village supplies users north to Hearthstone Park on Route 9N and south to Route 9L, as well as on the east side of the lake.

    The village news release not only cited the plans for the old Water Slide World site, but also the recent conversion of the old Ramada Inn into residences and multiple other condo developments on Route 9L and Bloody Pond Road, as reasons to conduct the water study and explore options for services.







    photo 2

    Demolition was ongoing this fall at the former home of Water Slide World, after real estate developer Richard Schermerhorn purchased the property with plans to build housing on the site. The plans, while not yet submitted to the town of Lake George, are a driving force behind the decision for a townwide water study.



    Jana DeCamilla



    “Village officials are concerned that the current filtration plant will not be able to service the expected higher volume and have joined with the Town Board to finance the $43,000 study. The study is expected to take 12-14 weeks,” Tuesday’s release states.

    The study is meant to examine the present capacity of the system, point out areas of concern or possible limitations and provide conceptual designs of improvement to continue to accept additional customers in the planned areas of development.

    “We do not want to hinder growth in the town of Lake George,” village Mayor Bob Blais said. “We want to be able to service all customers that wish village water in the town-outside-village and at the same time maintain an adequate reserve for the village.”

    Jana DeCamilla is a staff writer who covers Moreau, Queensbury, Warren County and Lake George. She can be reached at 518-903-9937 or jdecamilla@poststar.com.

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