‘Stay home’: California highway officials ask motorists to stay off roads as winter storm hits

In an appeal to the public Wednesday afternoon, Caltrans officials asked motorists to stay off California’s roadways as a large winter storm system gained strength, bringing dangerous conditions from the Valley’s major arteries to Sierra mountain passes.

Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol “will be proactively closing roadways if we feel the conditions are unsafe,” Caltrans Director Tony Tavares said in a news conference.

“Stay home; avoid those nonessential trips, at least until the peak of this storm subsides,” he said.

As of Wednesday afternoon in the high Sierra, Interstate 80 and Highway 50 remained open in both directions. Although chain controls were in effect in the morning, they had been lifted around noon. Chain controls were certain to return later in the day, however, as the storm grew stronger, the California Highway Patrol said.

“Chain control has been lifted on I-80 over Donner Summit,” the California Highway Patrol in Truckee said in a social media post. “The strongest part of the storm is expected later tonight and travel is highly discouraged as the storm will bring in heavy snow, high winds, and white out driving conditions.”

Nearby, chains were required on all vehicles on Highway 28 for the 4-mile stretch east of Tahoe City to the Nevada state line.

West of the Sierra, in addition to heavy snow, flash flooding was also expected to affect road conditions on mountain roads, Caltrans officials said Wednesday.

At the lower elevations, officials continued to urge motorists to stay off roads such as Highway 99 and Interstate 5, especially south of Sacramento, where flooding could return Thursday.

In a statement, the state’s Office of Emergency Services said it had “strategically prepositioned critical resources” in 12 counties — including Contra Costa, Lake, Monterey, Sonoma and El Dorado — where weather officials have issued warnings for wildfire burn scar areas; as well as Sacramento, Butte and Marin, where there are “major” flooding concerns.

Burn scars from the Caldor Fire, Mosquito Fire, River Fire and Dixie Fire in the foothills were identified by the National Weather Service as being susceptible to flash floods and debris flows. Residents near the burn scars were encourage to prepare for evacuations, if called upon.

“The public is urged to be on the lookout for potential flooding and mudslides in areas recently burned by wildfires,” the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said in a statement. “A debris flow can take homes off their foundations and carry items such as vegetation, large boulders, and cars. If you live near or downslope of burn areas, you should have a plan to quickly evacuate your community if flash flooding or a mudslide were to happen.”

OES is deploying 14 incident management team units, two helicopters, five fire engines and a swift water rescue team to Sacramento County, according to the news release. “Residual flooding impacts could linger into the weekend before another potentially impactful storm returns early next week,” authorities said.

This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 3:38 PM with the headline "‘Stay home’: California highway officials ask motorists to stay off roads as winter storm hits."