Last night they weather man told us that up in the coastal range to the north and south of us all the way down likely to Morro Bay that wind gusts would average 35 to 40 miles per hour with Gusts up to 65 miles per hour. However, right here on the coast (I chose to live only 1 mile from the beach) so if there was a tsunami my house likely would survive at about 100 to 150 feet in elevation above Sea level at this distance from the beach. I personally have seen waves 35 to 40 feet nearby during storms. The really crazy thing about this is if they are breaking right big wave surfers come out with their boards and jet skis to pull them up to surf these waves and then to pick them up afterwards so they aren't crushed by the rocks on the shores there because this isn't where beaches are just rocks big and small where the beach should be. But I have watched this in person while people were all around me taking movies and photos of this while waves brought seaweed onto people's porches past the coastal road there.
As I was walking on a familiar fire road in the forest I could not believe how many trees had fallen across this particular road. I likely could count 5 to 10 large trees had come down across the road that I either had to walk under (when they hit another tree coming down and couldn't fall all the way down) or when they fell across the road and I either had to step over them or go around in some way. My dogs followed me loyally while I through a tennis ball with a Chuckit orange ball thrower the kind you see dog owners throw a lot at the beach. However, I'm controlled and accurate enough and skilled enough usually to throw the ball along the road without losing it over the edge of the hills into a local valley in the forest.
But, the weather man said that many many trees are going to go down in the increased rain on the highest hills of the coastal range of mountains nearby.
It's been raining now for about 24 hours or more where I live near the coast. We likely have 200% of normal rainfall so far this season here.
So many roads and bridges have been destroyed this year in the storms that California Governor Brown is having to increase Gasoline and Diesel taxes in order to pay for the millions of dollars in road repairs. Two of the most expensive are the Pfeiffer Bridge in Big Sur needing to be replaced and a whole section of one of the main roads has washed literally down a canyon in the Santa Cruz mountains above the City of Santa Cruz on the coast in the storms and likely this latest storm isn't helping that road or the Pfeiffer Bridge replacement either at this point. Pfeiffer Bridge likely will take 1 year before people can drive over the new Bridge they are trying to start building now after demolishing the old one with heavy equipment, and that is only if weather doesn't interfere with the bridge being replaced. However, at least for now the people south Pfeiffer Bridge on hiway 1 don't have to be taken food by helicopter because one or more roads going over from Paso Robles on 101 are open at least from 6 am to 7 pm. with at least one lane open heading over towards hiway one because as far as I know highway 1 is still closed coming up from the south because the road fell into the sea there too. So, there is a section between these two breaks in Highway 1 that had no roads out (unless you hiked out or rode a helicopter) for some time now.
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