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http://www.oocities.org/MotorCity/1760/flood98.html
Updated March
1, 1998
Lots of
graphics following -- be patient if you are on a simple modem!
Well, the government
finally did it: the whole county has been declared a Federal Disaster
Area, so the FEMA folks are whizzing through. A few folks have
commented that they are whizzing through a bit too quickly. For some
people, all they have left now is a mortgage.
As of March. 1, Hwy. 84 is still
100% clear (with two single-lane conditions between Hwy 1 and
Skyline). On Feb. 19, Hwy 84 re-opened between La Honda and Skyline.
In one spot the road is single-lane, with mud piles on either side of
you. To regulate traffic here, Caltrans has installed one-way traffic
light control.
The situation in Cuesta is getting
worse. Several houses are getting the red tag. What started as a
three-inch speed bump in the road quickly grew over 10 days to a
four-foot problem when I walked the area on Feb. 22. Click
here for the pictures.
Pescadero and Loma Mar are
reachable, and the sights of the boulders and big trees is no less
than impressive.
Following are scenes along Highway 84, between La Honda and San
Gregorio. On Monday night, Feb. 2nd, I discovered that a Porsche 944
will actually make it through THREE to FOUR inches of watery mud,
branches, rocks and redwood duff -- as long as you keep the power on
and treat it like heavy wet snow. I hated doing it, and it made the
car look like hell, but hey, it's my only means of
transportation...
This is what the rains of Monday night, Feb. 2nd, brought to my
neighborhood. I am now able to drive home again, and let me
tell ya, the first time I drove back into my driveway it felt weird.
Still looking for new housing. Know of a place around Skyline,
Skylonda, La Honda or San Gregorio for rent? Cabin, shack, whatever.
Email me.
Click on any of the images below to see a double-sized
version.
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San Gregorio creek. Everything here was lush and green. I
can no longer cross this creek to get home. I'm cut off to
personal or emergency traffic access. The bridge is now 100
feet downriver, on the opposite bank, rightside up and
turned 180 degrees from original orientation. The water
reached a level about 10 to 15 feet above the bridge
footings, or 20 to 25 feet above summer flow level. One
footing is easily visible on the right. I'm glad I went to
Apple
Jack's Monday evening about 7pm after the power went
out. Otherwise, my car would be stranded at my house, which
is almost a half mile uphill beyond this point.
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My neighbor was not so lucky. All their cars are a loss.
This particular vehicle (a brand new Camaro) was originally
parked 100 feet away from where you see it here. It floated
backwards and was stacked into this small oak tree, which
smashed the rear hatch open.
The mud inside this car is up to the steering
wheel. It still has the dealer's new car plate on it, too.
Many cars and trucks and trailers were lost in this
single storm, and most of them are still unaccounted for.
They might be in the creek. Maybe even in the Pacific by
now. By my count, at least a dozen cars and trucks, and a
dozen or so trailers were consumed by the torrents of the
night of Feb. 2 and the early morning hours of Feb. 3.
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On Feb. 6th, the Eastbound lane of 84 has sunk a
few feet into the ground, about a mile East of
Rancho
San Gregorio Bed & Breakfast.
On Feb. 9th, the sunken road area has grown (this
photo) and there's a stop sign on either side which
everyone ignores, except weekend tourist traffic,
when you never know what to expect out of visiting drivers.
Caltrans has moved a pile of new, raw asphalt in; I presume
they will be working on this one soon. Maybe.
On Feb. 23, the asphalt pile is still there. The
collapse is a lot deeper, but only a little bit wider. Hmmm.
On Mar. 1 it looks exactly the same, and the
asphalt pile is still there.
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The Ken Kesey cabin, a bit of local lore from the 60s
(and birthplace of The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test) was
almost demolished by the storm. It was just inhabited by new
owners last fall. There's a huge hole in the left side where
a big tree rammed it, the walls are buckled outward from
water pressure, and the grounds and footbridge were washed
away. The horizontal trees in foreground were deposited
there by the torrent. For some, this is no less than the
loss of a Natural Treasure, and a piece of La Honda history.
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Remember that missing bridge of mine, the first photo on
this page? Well, they are starting to put it back, and got
it this far. It's in the creek, awaiting a crane. I was able
to walk over this bridge (carefully, it was at a steep
angle) on Feb. 16 to visit my home and check up on
things, like making sure the hillside next to the house
isn't doing anything strange. On Feb. 18 we got more
rain, and then even more rain, and the bridge was quickly
submerged. It also moved downriver a bit. Totally unsafe to
foot passage.
As you see, this shot on Feb. 23 shows the bridge
is now completely underwater. The bridge runs from lower
left to upper right in the photo, and water is flowing from
right to left. The small structure on the opposite bank used
to be an aviary.
On Feb. 27 the bridge was put back in place with a
big crane. I actually got to help out, as I put my
Mechanical Engineering degree to work in the form of plain
manual labor, with a shovel...
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Click
here for pictures of the giant logjam behind Apple Jack's, the
San Gregorio beach debris pile (it's big), a neighbor's smashed
cottage, and other local scenes.
Click here
for pictures of the worsening Cuesta situation on Scenic Drive,
taken Feb. 22nd. What started as a three-inch speed bump grew in 10
days to a four-foot dropoff. And it's still on the move.
If you're curious, I created this initial flood page while in the
early stages of exile from my place. On Feb. 24, I am unfortunately
still in exile from anything resembling a my life as it was before
this disaster. Files were uploaded from the PowerMac at
The
Merry Prankster Cafe, where I conduct an internet workshop on
Tuesday evenings. The photos were taken with an Apple QuickTake
digital camera, massaged with PhotoShop, and the page was crafted
with Adobe's HomePage and Apple's SimpleText.
Related links:
Visible
Satellite View of the San Francisco Bay area.
Visible
Satellite View of Northern California.
Doppler
Radar image of the San Francisco Bay area; shows current
precipitation intensities. Interesting to view during a storm (while
the power is still on!)
You are flood survivor since Feb. 5,
1998,
when this page was created. Got boots?