KLAMATH, Calif. – The relentless atmospheric river storms this winter have become too much for a hillside along California‘s busy U.S. Highway 101.
Caltrans cameras were rolling Friday night when a large section of a hillside gave way and crashed down onto the highway in Klamath, California, near the Oregon border. There were no reported injuries.
7 WARNING SIGNS A LANDSLIDE OR MUDSLIDE IS IMMINENT
DOT crews say both directions of the two-lane highway are blocked and there is no estimate when the road will reopen.
The region has been soaked by multiple rainstorms this winter as a strong El Niño pattern kept the jet stream aimed squarely at California. Nearby Crescent City just received around 3 inches of rain from storms late in the week, just as two more atmospheric river storm systems loom this weekend and into next week.
The National Service warns that with Saturday soils across the state, additional mudslides and landslides will likely continue well into next week. Northern California is under a daily risk of flash flooding through Wednesday, according to NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center.