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).
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