Cleanup crews continued to clear a shuttered section of Highway 58 east of Tehachapi that was ravaged by mudflows after an intense rainstorm drenched the Antelope Valley last week, stranding hundreds of drivers and passengers.
Currently, one big rig and about half a dozen cars remain in the mud and debris covering an approximately two-mile stretch from Exit 165 to Cameron Road, said Florene Trainor, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation. Loaders and excavators are digging up the dirt covering the highway and carting it away to two different sites, she said.
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An L.A. County fire crew digs a car out of the mud covering Lake Elizabeth Road where its owner, Esther Shelton of Palmdale, abandoned it.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 2/43
Jason DeBerge, 45, continues to dig out his mud ravaged home in Lake Hughes on Saturday, two days after a torrential rainstorm sent debris-laden floodwater through his neighborhood.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 3/43
Addy Markley removes mud and debris from her Antelope Valley home.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 4/43
Beekeeper Juan Zavala of Bakersfield works to calm a big rig carrying a load of live bees that got stuck in a mudslide on California 58 east of Tehachapi.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 5/43
Beekeepers use smoke and water to calm a load of live bees on an 18-wheeler that got stuck in a mudslide east of Tehachapi. Crews continue to unearth vehicles trapped in up to 20 feet of mud after torrential rains pummeled the area.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 6/43
Randy Eisenbeiss of Lake Hughes works on his mud-encrusted SUV with the help of his neighbor, Gian Guadagno, 10.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 7/43
Cody Cooper, center, and Addy Markley get help from Johnnie Baldyga digging through mud that inundated their Antelope Valley home.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 8/43
Jason DeBerge, 45, wipes mud from his feet as he tries to remove damaged carpet from his Lake Hughes home.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 9/43
Jason DeBerge rests for a moment in his mud-ravaged backyard in Lake Hughes.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 10/43
Patio furniture is stuck in several inches of mud outside the home of Jason DeBerge.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 11/43
Bill Beaury of Golden Empire Towing supervises the removal of vehicles encased in mud on California 58 east of Tehachapi on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. Caltrans is moving mud and debris so that the vehicles can be removed.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 12/43
Hundreds of vehicles sit buried in the mud on California 58 east of Tehachapi on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 13/43
Gary Lumpkins of Golden Empire Towing jumps down a high cement barricade on California 58 east of Tehachapi where up to 20 feet of mud and debris pummeled the area earlier in the week and forced drivers to flee.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 14/43
Mud, rocks and other debris surround big-rigs, trucks and cars on California 58 east of Tehachapi on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 15/43
Caltrans workers shovel tons of mud and debris on California 58 so that hundreds of vehicles trapped in the mudslide area east of Tehachapi can be removed.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 16/43
Big-rigs are trapped on California 58 east of Tehachapi.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 17/43
Nearly 200 vehicles were trapped on California 58 east of Tehachapi forcing drivers to abandon their vehicles and big-rigs.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 18/43
Vehicles are now being allowed on Northbound lanes of Interstate-5 in Fort Tejon at the top of the Grapevine Friday afternoon.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 19/43
A sandal is left behind where a car was buried up to the windows in a mudslide on Elizabeth Lake Road.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 20/43
Sweepers clean mud from the closed Interstate 5 on Friday.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 21/43
Andrew Saenz, 7, reads as his mom, Denise Saenz, tries to make a call in the front seat in Fort Tejon where they were stranded on Friday morning. The family was unable to get home and had to spend the night on the road.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 22/43
Tony Hemming uses a shovel to dig his car out of a mudslide on Elizabeth Lake Road on Friday.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 23/43
A bulldozer clears mud from Lake Elizabeth Road after several cars were inundated after a deluge Thursday.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 24/43
Several cars on Elizabeth Lake Road are inundated with mud after the deluge .
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 25/43
Steve Ring and Simone Gonzales have been stuck in Fort Tejon at the top of the Grapevine since 6 p.m. Thursday. “We have a place to sleep and have food. We just don’t know when we’ll be able to leave,” Gonzales said.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 26/43
A big-rig sits stranded on California 58 in the Tehachapi area, where the road remains closed after torrential rains pummeled the area.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 27/43
Big-rigs sit stranded on California 58 as cleanup operations are underway in the Tehachapi area.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 28/43
TV cameraman Monte Duarte is helped off California 58 after he became stuck in the mud and was assisted by California Highway Patrol Officer Edward Stewart and photographer Travis Geske, background.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 29/43
Big-rigs sit stranded on California 58 in the Tehachapi area.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 30/43
An unidentified man navigates thick mud near stranded big-rigs on California 58 in the Tehachapi area, where the road remains closed Friday.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 31/43
A motorist tries to dig a vehicle out of the mud along Elizabeth Lake Road.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 32/43
Several cars on Elizabeth Lake Road are inundated with mud after a deluge Thursday.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 33/43
California Highway Patrol officers give motorists directions at the intersection of California 14 and 58. California 58 remains closed after torrential rains pummeled the area.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 34/43
A camper sits stranded on California 58 in the Tehachapi area, where the road remains closed after 200 vehicles, including 75 tractor-trailers, were trapped east of Tehachapi in up to 20 feet of mud.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 35/43
Caltrans crews work to clear mud, boulders and debris Friday morning from the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 in the Grapevine after a heavy rain on Thursday closed the highway.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 36/43
Caltrans crews work to clear mud, boulders and debris Friday morning from the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 in the Grapevine after a heavy rain on Thursday closed the highway.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 37/43
Caltrans crews work to clear mud, boulders and debris Friday morning from the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 in the Grapevine after a heavy rain on Thursday closed the highway.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 38/43
Caltrans crews work to clear mud, boulders and debris Friday morning from the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 in the Grapevine after a heavy rain on Thursday closed the highway.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 39/43
Caltrans crews work to clear mud, boulders and debris Friday morning from the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 in the Grapevine after a heavy rain on Thursday closed the highway.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 40/43
A storm hit the Antelope Valley and Lake Hughes area with rain, hail and mudslides that left motorists stranded.
(Michael Robinson Chávez / Los Angeles Times) 41/43
Bouquet Canyon Road is covered in mud after a storm hit the Antelope Valley.
(Michael Robinson Chávez / Los Angeles Times) 42/43
Interstate 5 remains closed Friday morning with possible rain later in the afternoon.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 43/43
As the storm clears, floodwaters cover Bouquet Canyon Road in the Lake Hughes area.
(Michael Robinson Chávez / Los Angeles Times) Nearly 200 vehicles, including about three dozen tractor-trailers, were trapped by mudflows that reached five and six feet high in Thursday’s storm. Most of the trapped vehicles, including two big rigs carrying bees, have been cleared away. No fatalities have been reported.
The vehicles that remain in the area will be drivable once the mud is scraped off, Trainor said. Highway 58 remains closed in the eight miles between State Route 14 and State Route 202.
The big rig and cars should be cleared away by tomorrow, if not tonight, said Darlena Dotson, spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol’s Mojave station.
The storm that led to the mudflows was called a 1,000-year event by meteorologists. Dotson said she hadn’t seen damaging flows of this magnitude in the years that she had been working for the CHP or living in the area.
Geologists have surveyed the surrounding mountains to make sure the soils on those slopes are stable.
“We were worried about of the instability of [the soils] if there was another rainstorm, and it looks like it’s good,” Trainor said.
The highway will not be reopened until later this week, possibly Thursday.
“We’re not going to reopen the highway until we have it safe for the traveling public,” Trainor said.
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