I'll write more of this trip later. Since I just got back from a long day, I'm going to bed now

Frank in soggy SBA.

I expect this will keep the line closed for sometime.

Maybe you can help me out some here. Both as a resident and civil engineer from and working in normally wetter climates, I simply can not understand what goes on every time there is some heavy rain in California. I would have thought in such a super regulated state that building on landslide prone areas would be verboten. Yet also, given the pictures I see of some of these areas, yes they might have beautiful views, but you would have to be nuts to build on them because they are so inherently unstable. Even without building codes it would seem that anyone with functional brain cells would back up a ways from the cliff edges to build.

Anyone out there remember the old Sunday School song, "The wise man built his house upon the rock / The foolish man built his house upon the sand" and what happened when the rains came down? (Matthew 7:24-27) Or is this sort of source illegal to discuss in California?

George

As to why people would actually build there, two words: They're nuts. People get complacent. County supervisors and city councils are more concerned with property tax revenues and housing supplies than geology, so they issue permits for subdivisions. I am always dumbfounded when I drive Highway 1 just north of Pacifica, which is on the coast a few minutes south of San Francisco. You can actually see houses hanging on cliffs right alongside a visible portion of the San Andreas Fault.

Back in the '60s my sister had a high school science teacher who, for a week, promised to give his "scare lecture" on Friday. The gist of it was that there is no geologically safe place to build a home in California. So.... perhaps we should all move. But clearly, some places are much safer than others.

Yes, in an absolute sense there is no place safe to build anywhere. You are always playing the odds to some extent, but if you have to play Russian Roulette, why load all the chambers?

I have spent most of my life in areas subject to tornados and near the New Madrid fault, and the last 15 years in an area that has earthquakes and typhoons, but with the tornados, we always took practical precautions and had an escape plan, and knew that many houses had stood for 100 years or longer without getting hit by a tornado. Here, I live in a well built concrete building, and not near a beach. It seems that the Californian coastal cliff dweller believes that rain does not happen. In fact, earthquakes here are like part of the weather, you know they will happen often, in varying severity. They are so much like the weather, that the seismic office in Taiwan is administered by the Taiwan Weather Bureau.

Yes, people are crazy who build homes on cliffs with "scenic views" that are very prone to landsliding.

In many areas, railroad rights-of-way are protected by electrical fencing along the tracks which will trip a red signal to iluminate if landslide activity occurs, or if boulders fall down from a hilllside.

Put Rincon Point in Topozone and then go to the Rincon point in Ventura County. Follow the coast south{right} two maps and you will see Punta aka La Conchita.

Chris

6 dead, 12 missing at La Conchita. It will be at least two more days before 101 reopens. Some 15,000 people commute from the south/east each day. The Condor Express Whale Watching boat was running a limited ferry service today.

· Helicopter inspection lined up Tuesday morning to inspect subdivision between Oxnard and Concepcion – Javier Sanchez, MTM, Pete Rodriquez, bridge inspector, Steve McMullen, geotechnical consultant.
· MP 328.2 Gaviota – Main track out of service. Embankment failure caused by wave action and saturated subgrade. Sink is 30 feet long, 15 feet down, 1 foot from ties. Signal also washed down and was recovered. Notifications made for permits. Shannon and Wilson, geotechnical, Steve McMullen consultant will be on site Monday. High rail excavator, backhoe on site. Rip rap and base material being trucked to Surf. One air dump on hand. 12 air dumps by Roseville 8:24 p.m. Jimco contracting on site. Will shuttle rip rap from Surf to worksite. Loader at Surf and track hoe and dozer at site.
· MP 332.2 – Gaviota - Embankment failure caused by wave action – 8 feet from ties, 75 feet long, 35 feet down. Starting to some alignment in this area.
· MP 380.0 – Carpenteria – Mudslide, 30 feet by 4 feet on top of track.
· MP 382 to MP 382.5 between Seacliff and Carpenteria - slides reported 2 ft deep across mainline and Highway 101. This area is at La Conchita and is the slide shown on CNN. May have lost some of the mainline in this area will be able to verify Tuesday morning. Currently not allowed into the site. Hirail excavator working location.
· MP 384 to MP 384.5 Seacliff – landslide on top of rail
· MP 384.7 – Seacliff – Mudslide on top of track – 20 feet by 4 feet. Corrected Sunday.
· MP 387.7 to MP 388 Seacliff, Track out of line and washed out in 5-degree curve.
· MP 392.6 Ventura - Embankment failure caused by wave action – 5 feet from ties, 3 locations from 25 and 50 feet in length. Moved boulders with track hoe from beach back up to slide. Shannon and Wilson to propose permanent repair.
· MP 392.6 – Scouring behind north abutment at Ventura River bridge
· MP 410.5 – water over track, 40 feet of side wash – repair Monday
· MP 418.7 to MP 419.0 – many mudslides on top of track – about 100 cubic yards. Demo with two backhoes to clean out Monday. More mud has come down during the day. We have stopped work during the night and will resume tomorrow during daylight hours.
· MP393.6 Ventura River Bridge has scouring around North abutment and water running through ballast north of the bridge.

I have a feeling it's going to be awhile before things are back to what passes as normal. CalTrans is now saying it will be sometime Saturday before 101 between Carpinteria and Ventura reopens. I will say that it was very nice driving north from Santa Barbara yesterday with significantly less truck traffic and less traffic in general.

The Ferry service is still operating 3-4 trips a day each way between SBA and VTA.

I got a call this evening from Amtrak informing me that the Starlight is now terminating in Oakland due to the "washout conditions" further South.

I'm being rerouted via the San Joaquin to Bakersfield, bus from Bakersfield to LA (so much for the cheap Sleeper upgrade! must have jinxed myself there)

NARP reports that service disruptions on the coast line will continue until "at least" February 1. However, a friend who is an Amtrak engineer reports that the talk around the shop is more like sometime in March. Stay tuned.