A section of California’s scenic Highway 1 coastal road collapsed during Easter weekend storms on Sunday, forcing a closure and stranding motorists near Big Sur, authorities said.
A collapse occurred during rainfall Saturday afternoon near the Rocky Creek Bridge, about 27 kilometers south of Monterey, causing large chunks of asphalt to roll into the ocean from the southbound side of the two-lane road.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) said the highway was closed in both directions in the Central Coast mountains while engineers assessed the damage.
“We are working on a plan to get motorists out of the area,” the California Highway Patrol said Saturday. Officials did not say how many people were trapped.
By Sunday afternoon, crews determined it was safe to travel in the northbound lanes and authorities began escorting motorists around the damaged stretch of road.
The famous highway is often closed during severe weather due to landslides, mudslides and rockslides.
The slow-moving storm brought heavy rain to lower elevations, with more than 30 centimeters of snow falling at Sierra Nevada ski resorts around Lake Tahoe.
National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Kittell said the system was typical for March but was not an atmospheric river like many other storms that have hit the state during the recent winter.
The storm left the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday and “traveled directly along the California coast,” bringing most of the rain to the Los Angeles area, Kittle said.
The storm then settled over Southern California and is expected to linger into Sunday night or Monday. Showers and thunderstorms are possible in parts of Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, with the possibility of lightning and damaging winds.
