Published: October 16,2015
All lanes of California's Interstate 5 reopened Friday evening after a massive mudslide pushed up to five feet of mud across the roadway Thursday, trapping cars and forcing crews to close the highway in both directions for nearly 40 miles.
Meanwhile, State Route 58 is expected to remain closed for days after the same storm system caused flash flooding and dangerous mud flows, trapping about 200 cars there in mud as deep as 6 feet.
Some of the vehicles on SR58 have been stuck since Thursday evening, and California Highway Patrol Sgt. Mario Lopez told ABC Los Angeles search and rescue crews are helping motorists in need of help.
Cars
on a road in Lake Hughes, California are stopped because of flooding,
with some stuck in the mud in the distance. Flash flooding sent water,
mud and rocks rushing across Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles on
Thursday, stranding hundreds of vehicles and closing the major
north-south thoroughfare. (Robert Rocha via AP)
Vehicles were backed up for miles stranding over 100 people with some still waiting for help from emergency responders early Friday morning.
No injuries had been reported as of late Thursday night, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Although much of California has been experiencing a severe drought this year, heavy rain fell in parts of the state on both Thursday and Friday, thanks to a slow-moving storm system.
Flooding also swamped roads in the San Gabriels of north L.A. County and parts of the Antelope Valley.
Scary scenes also came out of the Lake Hughes area along and near Lake Hughes Road, as well as nearby Elizabeth Lake.
Numerous vehicles in the area were just about completely submerged in mud. Elizabeth Lake and Lake Hughes are about 20 miles east of the section of I-5 that was shut down due to mudslides.
According to the NWS office in Los Angeles, a mesonet station near Leona Valley reported 3.38 inches in one-hour and 1.81 inches in 30 minutes, which is being described as a 1000-yr rainfall event. A 1000-yr rainfall indicates there is a 1 in 1000 chance of seeing those rainfall totals in a given area in any given year.
Mud trapping cars near Elizabeth Lake. I-5 N shut down at Ft Tejon. Live coverage @NBCLA right now.
Flooding was also reported Thursday near Twentynine Palms, northeast of Palm Springs, with at least one vehicle stuck in floodwaters.
For the second time in just 10 days, numerous roads were closed in Death Valley National Park due to flooding.
On Friday, although not as widespread, some flash flooding caused Highway 166 between Santa Maria and Maricopa to be closed for a time.
Weather Setup and What's to Come
An upper-level low pressure system has been circling around the Southwest for nearly two weeks now. In the process, it has caused bouts of thunderstorms and heavy rain from southern California, into Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and as far east as the High Plains of West Texas.
Latest Radar
Isolated thunderstorms on Wednesday were followed up by more widespread storms on Thursday. It is these storms that prompted numerous flash flood warnings as excessive rainfall pushed mud, rocks and other debris onto roadways.
(MORE: Southwest Flood Threat)
A few residual showers and an isolated thunderstorm cannot be ruled out on Saturday in California, although the flash flood threat will be greatly diminished there.
The thunderstorm and main heavy rain threat will shift east through the weekend, targeting areas such as Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
MORE: California Mudslides Close Interstate
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