Osmar Yamel Ramirez
I-10 Collapses near Desert Center
Caltrans closes roadway in both directions
The collapsed roadway is near Eagle Mountain Road on the Eastbound of the I-10 freeway.
It trapped a truck beneath the debris. One person was trapped inside, a passenger was able to get out.
Firefighters responded to the scene and began a cut and rescue operation at 4:43 p.m. on the eastbound side of the freeway. Just after 7:00p.m. Rescue crews were able to free the driver. They are being transported with moderate injuries via ground ambulance.
A 30 by 50 foot section collapsed into the water that build up during Sunday's storms.
CHP reports flooding has blocked all lanes in the area as well.
The freeway is shut down in both directions. Traffic is being turned around at Chiriaco Summit and Corn Springs.
Cal Fire tells us about 500 cars are backed up.
We have a crew on the way will continue to monitor the situation and bring any updates as they come into our newsroom.
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Remote part of I-10 collapses amid heavy rains in California
LOS ANGELES, CA (AP) —
An elevated section of Interstate 10
collapsed Sunday amid heavy rains in a remote desert area of California,
cutting off traffic between the state and Arizona and leaving a driver
injured.
A bridge on
eastbound I-10 across a normally dry desert wash about 50 miles west of
the Arizona state line washed away, the California Highway Patrol said,
blocking all traffic headed toward Arizona.
The westbound section of the freeway remained intact, but traffic was being stopped while it was inspected for safety.
The
Riverside County Fire Department said it had to extract a driver who
crashed in the collapse. The person was taken to a hospital with
moderate injuries.
Pamala Browne, 53, and her daughter were
driving from Flagstaff, Arizona to Palm Desert, California when they got
stranded when the westbound lanes were shutdown.
"Oh my God, we are so stuck out here," Browne told the Desert Sun newspaper.
She said "we're talking miles" of cars waiting for a route to open.
The
rains came amid a second day of showers and thunderstorms in southern
and central California that were setting rainfall records in what is
usually a dry month.
Rain
fell Sunday afternoon in parts of Los Angeles County's mountains, the
valley north and inland urban areas to the east. The city also was
expected to get a late repeat of Saturday's scattered showers and
occasional downpours as remnants of tropical storm Dolores brought warm,
muggy conditions northward.
"We have a chance of some more heavy
rain in LA County this evening, thunderstorms, lightning, possibly some
localized street flooding," said National Weather Service meteorologist
Joe Sirard.
The showers forced the Los Angeles Angels' first rainout in 20 years and the San Diego Padres' first rainout since 2006.
Saturday's rainfall broke records in at least 11 locations,
including five places that had the most rain ever recorded on any day in
July, Sirard said.
July is
typically the driest month of the year in Southern California. Because
of that, Saturday's 0.36 inch of rain in downtown Los Angeles exceeded
the 0.24 inch recorded July 14, 1886, which had been the wettest July
day in nearly 130 years.
The record is especially significant,
Sirard said, because downtown Los Angeles has the longest recording
climate station, dating back to July 1, 1877.
Saturday's storm
brought flash floods and power outages and turned Los Angeles County's
typically packed coast into empty stretches of sand when the threat of
lightning forced authorities to close 70 miles of beaches.
AJ
Lester of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Lifeguard Division
said he has been in touch with weather officials and was tracking rain
reports.
Signs warned beachgoers to
avoid storm drain flows into the ocean because of Saturday's sometimes
heavy rain. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
recommends people avoid swimming within 100 yards of a storm drain for
72 hours after heavy rain.
"All
storm drains flowed out yesterday, but it hasn't rained much this year,
so that doesn't bode well for the water quality," Lester said Sunday.
Warnings
were also in place for high surf and strong rip currents on all
south-facing beaches, including Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu, Zuma,
Newport and Huntington, Lester said.
Meanwhile, the summer storm has helped firefighters advance on two wildfires that broke out Friday.
Muggy, moist conditions were expected to persist through Monday.