LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This winter's heavy storms have had a major impact on the region's roadways due to an increase in rock and mudslides.
Along Highway 20 in Lake County, between Lucerne and Clearlake Oaks, seasonal mudslides are common, and on Wednesday Caltrans crews were busy cleaning up minor slides that had intruded into the westbound lane.
On that stretch of highway crews also had been working at the site of a pine tree that came down the hill, triggering a slide with its collapse.
Across the region, “We are having a lot of slide activity right now,” said Phil Frisbie, the Caltrans public information officer for Lake and Mendocino counties.
Frisbie told Lake County News that, as far as the number of slides and emergency work orders the agency has so far, “This is the worst winter we've had since the winter of 2005 to 2006.”
It was during that winter season that there was heavy rain all around California, with downtown Upper Lake flooding.
The slides in Lake County are occurring in areas where they've taken place due to past storms, and as such are being monitored and handled by maintenance crews, Frisbie said.
In the case of major slides, such as those that trigger highway closures, a storm damage group within Caltrans would move forward with an emergency construction project that would include hiring contractors to do repairs, he explained.
Frisbie said that Caltrans has some other major incidents it's dealing with on the North Coast, including a 900-foot-long slide near Piercy. That slide resulted in a closure of Highway 101 for several weeks, with a detour on the old Highway 101 nearby.
He said the slides are coming at a time when the area is getting what is considered a normal amount of rainfall after several years of drought.
One of the main impacts of the drought was to cause vegetation – especially trees – to die, Frisbie said.
He said that vegetation issue is likely a factor in some of the areas now experiencing slide activity.
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Wet winter brings upsurge in slides impacting area's highways
- Elizabeth Larson
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