Update: Highway 1 closed due to risk of mudslides, sinkholes surface in SLO County
Update, 1 p.m.:
News broke Thursday night that a chunk of Highway 1 and the cliff below it south of Lucia had broken off, a potential disaster for tourist-oriented businesses on both sides of the slide cutting off through traffic between San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties.
Photos posted online Thursday by Kate Novoa, also known as Big Sur Kate, showed that travel across that stretch of the scenic roadway would be impossible.
Caltrans said around 1 p.m. Friday that there will be a full closure of northbound and southbound Highway 1 from Ragged Point to Fullers Point in San Luis Obispo County.
Update 12 p.m.:
Northbound Highway 101 just south of Laetitia Winery in Arroyo Grande was closed around 11 a.m. due to a large pothole.
According to CHP logs, the pothole was about three feet wide and sic inches deep.
Caltrans was responding to the scene, according to CHP.
On Thursday, a sinkhole was also reported in San Luis Obispo.
According to the San Luis Obispo Police Department, officers assisted a postal worker whose vehicle got stuck in a sinkhole on Olive Street in San Luis Obispo.
The hole was about six feet wide and five feet deep. Police said “crews were able to manage the repair” Thursday.
Update, 10 a.m.:
The rain has picked back up in San Luis Obispo County and thunderstorms may be on the way, according to PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey.
Lindsey said models show isolated thunderstorm activity and between 0.33 and 0.75 of an inch of rain can be expected along the Central Coast before a dry weekend.
Laguna Lake in San Luis Obispo was overflowing mid-morning Friday, with water rising to the parking lot and covering some of the lower trails.
According to the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department, Green Street and Main Steer in Cambria, Turri Road in Los Osos and Prefumo Canyon Road in San Luis Obispo were all reopened Friday after storm-related closures on Thursday.
CHP logs also no longer showed a road closure at San Luis Bay Drive in Morro Bay.
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Original story:
The destructive storm that raged throughout San Luis Obispo County for the past two days had, for the most part, moved on from the Central Coast on Friday morning.
The National Weather Service forecasted a 70% chance of light rain throughout the county Friday morning, petering off to a 10% chance in the evening.
The predicted showers paled in comparison to the downpour that left a handful of streets and homes flooded and entire towns without power Wednesday and Thursday.
Paso Robles shattered its daily rain total record two days in a row Wednesday and Thursday, and some areas of San Luis Obispo County saw more than 10 inches of rain.
According to PG&E, most San Luis Obispo County residents affected by power outages regained power by Friday morning, including customers in Santa Margarita and Cambria.
In addition, a high surf advisory was in effect until 6 p.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
Some roads remained closed Friday morning as a result of the storm.
According to the California Highway Patrol, road closures were in place Friday morning at San Luis Bay Drive from Highway 101 to Monte Road in Morro Bay and in the 1700 block of Pierce Avenue in Cambria.
The San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department had not updated its road closure map since Thursday as of 8 a.m. Friday.
Further north, a chunk of Highway 1 broke off and fell into the Pacific Ocean as a result of debris and severe rain. Caltrans was on site Friday morning assessing the damage.
The Monterey division of California Highway Patrol shared a photo Thursday evening, showing where a portion of the road appeared to have fallen down the hillside due to the heavy deluge of rain that struck the area this week.
Caltrans District 5 spokesman Kevin Drabinski said the agency learned Thursday afternoon that Highway 1 at Rat Creek, about 30 miles north of the San Luis Obispo County line, was hit by a debris flow and part of the roadway was washed away.
About 45 miles of the scenic roadway have been closed since Tuesday in preparation for rain and potential storm impacts.
The area has previously been susceptible to mudslides and road damage.
In 2017 a massive mudslide cut off much of the region for more than a year.
Since then, Caltrans and CHP have preemptively shut down portions of the roadway ahead of major winter storms to reduce risk to drivers.
This story was originally published January 29, 2021 at 8:32 AM.
