Clear Blue Skies, a Closed Freeway, Destroyed Lives

We had a little rain last night but not nearly the amount that was expected. Woke up this morning to beautiful skies. Watched the news to check out the freeway conditions and saw that the 101 is still closed in both directions.

In this
article
about La Conchita, a man went to get ice cream yesterday morning and saw the mud slide down and destroy his home with his wife and 3 daughters inside.

Maybe no work tomorrow either

The freeway may not be open tomorrow. A second mudslide hit the 101. I heard on the radio that there were cars trapped between the two mudslides (the people had abandoned their cars).
Roadway
view of the 101 at La Conchita:
101 fwy at La Conchita A
bunch of houses got smashed and someone died from the second slide. Aerial
view of La Conchita:
Aerial View, La Conchita

Note: I sized the pictures for easier viewing from the blog. To see the full sized image, click on the picture to open it in a new browser window.

Do I still live in CA?

Tornado warning for
Ventura county during my commute through Ventura on my way to Camarillo. From Caltrans:

Highway
101 at La Conchita near the Santa Barbara/Ventura County line will remain closed for
an indeterminate time due to mudslides and flooding. US 101 [LOS ANGELES & VENTURA
CO.’S] IS CLOSED AT LA CONCHITA RD /IN VENTURA/ (VENTURA CO) – DUE TO FLOODING – MOTORISTS
ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE [CENTRAL COAST] IS CLOSED TO SOUTHBOUND TRAFFIC
AT THE VENTURA/SANTA BARBARA CO LINE – DUE TO A MUD SLIDE – MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED
TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

Advised to use alternate route??? That is in a section of the freeway
where there are mountains on one side and the ocean on another. There are no off ramps,
there are no frontage roads, the only alternate route is to go east on the 154 through
Ojai and back to Ventura on the 33, but 154 is very prone to mudslides.

 

I got about 3 miles down the freeway this morning at 7 am. In 45 minutes we moved
about 3 car lengths. I finally turned around and drove the wrong way on the shoulder
back to the Bates on ramp. I drove off the freeway on the on ramp and and came home.
I’ll work from home today. The miracles of remote computings.