Xasáuan Today

Sycamore Canyon and the Big Sur Valley. Pfeiffer Ridge is at the back of the Sycamore Canyon drainage, running parallel to, and just to the west of, Hwy. 1. Pfeiffer Beach is at the bottom of the photo.

As many of you have been pointing out to us this morning. A fire broke out on Pfeiffer Ridge last night and has been burning through the Sycamore Canyon drainage toward the ocean. We’ve seen reports of as many as 500 acres burned and structures, including homes, have reportedly been destroyed. Read the rest of this entry »

The March, 2011 Rocky Creek slide still under repair

At 9:30 tonight Caltrans shut Highway One down from “4 miles south of Big Sur” (apparently between Deetjen’s and the Coast Gallery) all the way to Ragged Point in San Luis Obispo County “due to flooding.” That’s about 50 miles of highway closed and there is “no estimated time to reopen.” We don’t know where the “flood” is, or if this is just shorthand for lots of rocks and slides, but this is probably a good night to stay off the roads in the areas hardest hit by today’s storm.

10:45pm Update: Big Sur Kate is reporting that the cause of the closure is a slide at Rain Rocks (between Lucia and Limekiln Creek).

8:00am December 3 Update: The Highway appears to have been reopened.

As of 2:00pm the Big Sur River was at 10.51 feet and climbing. 10 feet is the official flood stage, although past experience indicates that serious flooding does not actually begin until the river gets higher. Flow is currently at 4,900 cfs and climbing. This is a couple hundred cfs more than the river’s peak during Big Sur’s last flood scare, in March 2011. View the Big Sur River gauge here.

2:30pm Update: It appears that peak flow has now passed. Latest readings are 10.47 feet and 4,850 cfs. The rain is tapering off rapidly over the Santa Lucias, so the river will probably start dropping quickly.

10:00pm Update: Nothing to do with the Big Sur River, obviously, but at 9:30 tonight Cal Trans shut Highway One down from 4 miles south of Big Sur all the way to Ragged Point in San Luis Obispo County “due to flooding.” Don’t know where the “flood” is, or if this is just shorthand for lots of rocks and slides. The Big Sur River, meanwhile, is all the way back down to 1,270 cfs. The Arroyo Seco River takes the prize for the day’s highest peak flow with around 14,000 cfs (an amount it can easily accommodate).

We’ve been getting questions about why so many firetrucks and dozers have been headed south through Big Sur with lights and sirens ablaze this evening. They are on their way to the Limekiln Creek area where a small fire was reported around 4:30 this afternoon. Read the rest of this entry »