2022-11-25, 07:52 PM
I'm very late to the party on this thread. But, my bit of story on the October flooding.
We came in from HI to visit our son, and attend his baby shower. They live in Keeler, so it's close to DV.
The day before we came in, Noah almost got caught in a flash flood on Hwy 190, between Hwy 136 and Olancha. He was on "high" ground on 190 when he saw movement across the road 200 yards in front of him. He stopped in a hurry, while several cars blew past him. They didn't get far. There was an LA County DWP truck that got pushed off the road, and luckily stopped just before tumbling off the 25' drop into Owens lake. The driver was able to escape via the pickup bed, and get to safety, but just barely. Noah got some video; 8 foot waves coming over the roadway.
Meanwhile, 200 yards behind Noah, the roadway was now being covered by water in another low spot. About 3 hours later, the water had receded, and a grader came through, and pushed a path through, and he was able to get home. He was in the company F-350, but I seriously doubt it would have mattered, if he hadn't chosen to stop on high ground.
Two days later he and I were able to check out Hwy 190. Noah needed to run Hwy 190 anyway, in order to check for any cable damage where the flooding occurred. The place where the DWP truck was washed off the road had a concrete culvert under the road. Typically, this culvert is 12-15' deep and 75' wide. After this, it was less than 5' deep. It took a number of weeks to get it dug out.
This section of Hwy 190 did not have extensive roadway damage, though there were a lot of places that the shoulder was entirely gone. Hwy 190, on the other hand, southeast of the intersection of Hwy 136 (just after Gunsight Pass), lost over half of road. Residents of Darwin were being escorted in twice a day for quite a few weeks.
Of course, our route to Las Vegas took us well north of DV later in the week. Fortunately, Keeler didn't have any damage, so Noah and his house were fine.
We ran up to Cerro Gordo that week. Yellow Grade road was beat, but passible with 4WD and high clearance. The loop to the Salt Tram and Swansea was another story. We rated it impassible to anything other than a built SxS. The shelf road had a few washouts that need some shovel work, but not impossible. Boiler Canyon was a complete mess; 6' drops, entirely missing road in the wash at the bottom of Boiler Canyon for 250 yards. Past the breakover station, the ruts were now large enough to swallow the SxS if you misplaced a tire. The stairsteps coming down towards Swansea were in standard condition. I suspect by now, a few wheelers equipped with shovels and winches should be able to put the road back into normal condition.
David Bricker / SYR
We came in from HI to visit our son, and attend his baby shower. They live in Keeler, so it's close to DV.
The day before we came in, Noah almost got caught in a flash flood on Hwy 190, between Hwy 136 and Olancha. He was on "high" ground on 190 when he saw movement across the road 200 yards in front of him. He stopped in a hurry, while several cars blew past him. They didn't get far. There was an LA County DWP truck that got pushed off the road, and luckily stopped just before tumbling off the 25' drop into Owens lake. The driver was able to escape via the pickup bed, and get to safety, but just barely. Noah got some video; 8 foot waves coming over the roadway.
Meanwhile, 200 yards behind Noah, the roadway was now being covered by water in another low spot. About 3 hours later, the water had receded, and a grader came through, and pushed a path through, and he was able to get home. He was in the company F-350, but I seriously doubt it would have mattered, if he hadn't chosen to stop on high ground.
Two days later he and I were able to check out Hwy 190. Noah needed to run Hwy 190 anyway, in order to check for any cable damage where the flooding occurred. The place where the DWP truck was washed off the road had a concrete culvert under the road. Typically, this culvert is 12-15' deep and 75' wide. After this, it was less than 5' deep. It took a number of weeks to get it dug out.
This section of Hwy 190 did not have extensive roadway damage, though there were a lot of places that the shoulder was entirely gone. Hwy 190, on the other hand, southeast of the intersection of Hwy 136 (just after Gunsight Pass), lost over half of road. Residents of Darwin were being escorted in twice a day for quite a few weeks.
Of course, our route to Las Vegas took us well north of DV later in the week. Fortunately, Keeler didn't have any damage, so Noah and his house were fine.
We ran up to Cerro Gordo that week. Yellow Grade road was beat, but passible with 4WD and high clearance. The loop to the Salt Tram and Swansea was another story. We rated it impassible to anything other than a built SxS. The shelf road had a few washouts that need some shovel work, but not impossible. Boiler Canyon was a complete mess; 6' drops, entirely missing road in the wash at the bottom of Boiler Canyon for 250 yards. Past the breakover station, the ruts were now large enough to swallow the SxS if you misplaced a tire. The stairsteps coming down towards Swansea were in standard condition. I suspect by now, a few wheelers equipped with shovels and winches should be able to put the road back into normal condition.
David Bricker / SYR
DV Rat. Live upstate NY, play Death Valley, retiring to Hawaii. '95 Cherokee, barely.
