OT: Rain and mud slides in So. Ca.

[Wally Anderson]

Just watching the news regardsing all the rain in So. Ca. I know that CNN and other news sources tend to exaggerate but is this the real thing, mud slides and sink holes all over the place? Hope all you people in the South of Ca. are OK! It seems that Northern Ca. isn't as bad but it's raining all along the coast.

[jclark]

Northern California is *never* as bad as Southern California ( that's why we go down there ever once in a while ) ...

:)

[Wally Anderson]

jclark:
I grew up in San Jose and lived in San Francisco until 1990 so I know about Southern California and a great deal about Northern California. How are things up at Alice'?

[acook]

Going to mount pontoons on my S if this doesn't stop soon. Still better than snow.

[acook]

[jclark]

All is nice and beauty-full, round here - finallly ( 9 days of rain - grrr ). I even mowed the grass today.
Sheesh.

Last time at Alice's ( last fall ) was all wunnerful... will havta go there ina week or two - mebbe a run to Boulder Creek/Alice's...

[John Lyon]

Go ahead and laugh, No Cal guys. We stole your water, after all.

To answer, 95% of everything is fine, but wet. In my neighborhood, many people have had to clean out yard drains and/or bring in a pump to keep water from building up in the back yard. The cases where houses are actually sliding down a hill are relatively few, but it keeps expanding the longer this keeps up. If it happens, it can wipe you out as I understand homeowners insurance typically doesn't cover it.

There are a LOT of roads with problems, however. Malibu Canyon is closed for 4 days, Topanga Canyon is 1-way part time, Pacific Coast highway has a detour in Santa Monica, Kanan had a tree fall across it, and many, many remote-type roads are closed with sink holes, wash outs, etc.

[Steve Carlton]

Originally posted by Wally Anderson
jclark:
I grew up in San Jose and lived in San Francisco until 1990 so I know about Southern California and a great deal about Northern California. How are things up at Alice'?

Hey Wally,

In case you missed it, I had a little blub about Alice's in my ride report here.

Nice people bought it about 3 years ago.

[Wally Anderson]

Steve:
Thanks for bringing my attention to your pictures and discription of Alice's, very nicely done! I spent many happy weekends riding in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Hwy 1. After retiring I moved to Pa. and other than the Winters it's great M/C country. Central Pa. has some of the greatest mountain roads in the USA.

[bradzdotcom]

most of the bigger mudslides often don't happen until a few days after the rains have stopped.
the water goes down through the sand/soil until it hits the clay layer, then it puddles.
eventually a big hunk of land will "hydroplane" off the clay layer and slide down.
a lot of the slides we're seeing now are actually left-overs from the first round of rain...it just took a little nudge to finish 'em off.
where i live in huntington beach, we're very close to the ocean, yet we're six feet below sea level. we're used to the water coming OUT of the storm drains for days.
fortunately there's plenty of free sandbag filler right down the street.....
....brad

[JonyRR]

the concept of living at sea level is wonderful in the abstract but runs head-on into reality in a situation like this. I live at about 1000 ft above MSl and can see the ocean (Puget Sound) just fine; just the way I like it; I can bop down the hill to the ferry landing and the boat launch, yet still need not fear the tsunami or minor flooding (now about that volcanic eruption or major earthquake...) I felt bad for SoCal Sunday as I was out doing an 80mi loop thru the woods on my dirtbike; 65F and flawless blue sky; I think we got your weather this time...

[wswartzwel]

Originally posted by bradzdotcom
, we're very close to the ocean, yet we're six feet below sea level. we're used to the water coming OUT of the storm drains for days.

....brad

So flushing the john could be a crap shoot

[bradzdotcom]

um, actually no wsw, they already done figured that shiit out.
fortunately.

...brad

[wswartzwel]

I was joking. But nice pun return...

[SergioK]

C'mon Jony, the beach ain't so bad. Look, the water's juuuust right.

[JonyRR]

Yikes! is that a 'seawall' or the LA river? Betcha you couldn't make 'chinatown' with THIS season's weather, eh?

[SergioK]

That 'wall' is 3 cinderblocks high. It separates the sand from the walkway along the beach. Off to the far left is the sand burm that's built up to keep the Pacific at bay.

Amazingly enough, the pool of water causing the flooding is all rainwater!

[bradzdotcom]

yep, hence the reason my scuba snorkel is right here on my desk....

...brad

[campbellcj]

40 years of "deferred maintenance" on our roads and roadside hillsides/landscaping and people wonder why these problems arise.

Our major freeways are so bumpy, choppy and poorly-lit that they're close to what many folks would consider "off-roading".

But at least for all the $$$$$ property taxes we pay, we get ALL this, and inferior schools, too!

[SteveStromberg]

Half of the people in La County are here Illegaly