Karen and I got out this afternoon to see the levels and destruction. Who do we see but delnorter himself up to his elbows cleaning out a culvert on North Bank...AND getting paid to do it!
JK Mike and tyvm for the 12+ hours daily yer puttin in to keep us safe and mobile!
Thanks for the kind words here on the forum and on the bridge that day Jeff.
Maybe you folks would like to hear of a busy day for a highway worker. An old highway worker!
That day, last Sunday was pretty crazy for sure. I'd worked 12 hours on Saturday keeping smallish rock slides cleared and got to bed around 10 PM. A little before 3 AM Sunday morning the boss calls, "gitty up Mike, I'ts all going hell fast"
I jump in some clothes and Caltrans rain gear and head out in my
Dodge Diesel with new 17" rims and all terrain Toyos, comeown! . I head north on Lake Earl Drive, but the water is too deep to drive through just past Redwood School. I turn around and go to Kings Valley Cross Road, barely getting through deep water there.
I head north on Hwy 101 and then onto Hwy 197. About a mile east there is a small (about 50' long) fir tree across the road. It is only about 12" in diameter where I run through the limbs and over it. There's worse things needing attention. At the new bridge (where you talked with me that afternoon Jeff) the water from the creek was about a foot over the top of it. The guy there with me, when you stopped and talked, was one of the Engineers who designed the bridge to handle any flows. He just couldn't believe it couldn't handle the water volume, so I pointed out all the logs and other debris piled up on the edges of the road and sides of the bridge. There were about 4 more places along 197 with pretty deep water over the road from plugged culverts.
Once I hit Highway 199, things weren't too bad. Quite a few limbs in the road (these can be pretty big when they are from large Redwood and Douglas fir trees) and some small rock slides. Again there was a lot of smallish flooding from plugged drain inlets to culverts under the road. People drive this road pretty fast, even in bad weather, and hydroplaning is a real hazard. 18 mile northeast things got worse on the four lane section of road north of the town of Gasquet. In the area where the steel cable curtain drapes the vertical cliff above the road, a large amount of the mountain broke loose, stretching the curtain out and passing under it, covering all four lanes of the highway.
Time to head out for work, I'll finish this this evening, maybe!
Mike