Real photos of Highway 17 and Skyline in the Santa Cruz Mountains this week

In article , Jeff
Liebermann wrote:

Why people in vans even think to attempt a crossing is beyond me.
http://i.cubeupload.com/HPg6Xo.jpg

Here's the story on the van:

http://www.ksbw.com/article/van-cras...-cruz-mountain
s/8693694

"I saw what I thought was mud, I stepped on the brake, and it was too
late," he said.

stupid driver syndrome.

In article 2017021213462516616-savageduck1@REMOVESPAMmecom,
Savageduck wrote:

No middle ground there? Flood or drought, it seems.

Add earthquake, fire, and landslides.

No hurricanes?

in california, anything worse than a light drizzle is considered to be
a hurricane forcing people to run for cover.

Eastern myth.

not at all. it's actual experience.

Obviously not yours.

yes mine. i lived in california for many years and still visit a lot.

a little bit of rain and people there start freaking out. i could tell
what the weather was from traffic reports due to all of the collisions.
lots of collisions and it's raining. few and it's sunny.

Oh, like the collisions in winter storms in the Mid-West and the East?

not due to rain, but in blizzards, sure.

a blizzard in san francisco would cause massive fatalities.

the difference is that the threshold for '****ty weather' in california
is rain, whereas in the midwest and east, it's a blizzard.

rain and even light snow doesn't slow anyone down in the east or
midwest, but in california, where they don't know what to do, all hell
breaks loose when it's not sunny and dry. they don't realize that
braking distances increase and visibility is lower, ending up slamming
into things, especially since california doesn't check for bald tires
or brake wear.

if there's lightning or thunder, people stand in amazement just to
watch it. traffic might even come to a standstill.

You are delusional. It seems that your experience of Californian
weather is based on nothing but conjecture.

not wrong at all.

Regardless of song ("It Never Rains in Southern California") and myth
we get rain, blizzards and violent storms. It is just that we have been
short of seasonal rain where it counts for the last 5 years. Not too
much in Death Valley.

up in the mountains, sure, but few people live there.

...and you know this how?
Which mountains are you thinking of?

real mountains, like siskiyous or the cascades further north.

We have a whole bunch of folks living in mountainous areas of
California, starting with mountainous areas of Santa Barbara, Monterey,
Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Fresno, Kern,
Mariposa, and a few other counties.

most of those aren't all that high and santa clara is a valley. inland
it does get a bit mountainous though.

in the areas where people actually live, namely the los angeles basin
and san francisco bay area, a little drizzle and all hell breaks loose.
it's actually a bit entertaining. just stay the hell off the roads.

So you actually have no idea at all.

wrong.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2017 16:02:53 -0500, PeterN wrote:

Note to the Duck: IMHO the posted images are examples of images that
should not be altered in any manner, except possibly some very mild
sharpening.

I think you're implying that these photos were photoshopped, but they
weren't. They appear to be real.

Here's the news story on that photo (kindly provided by Jeff Liebermann)
which has multiple photos easily corroborating that original photo.
http://www.ksbw.com/article/van-cras...ntains/8693694

Or are you insinuating they're all photoshopped by the news media?
http://hips.htvapps.com/htv-prod-med...1486589973.jpg
http://hips.htvapps.com/htv-prod-med...1486693522.jpg
http://hips.htvapps.com/htv-prod-med...1486694623.jpg

On Sun, 12 Feb 2017 14:02:19 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Highway 17 landslide turns car over, blocks both lanes, and cleanup crew
killed. http://i.cubeupload.com/VD5wTr.jpg

Not exactly. Only one Granite Construction worker was killed by a
dump truck, not the overturned car:
http://www.ksbw.com/article/highway-17-mudslide-worker-hit-by-vehicle/8698622

I know. I didn't say that more than one person was killed, as it was a
father (and son) team working that day for Granite Construction where the
father died (Tuesday, I think) from an accident.

The overturned car was apparently pushed to the other lanes and flipped
over by the onrushing landslide. At least that's how I understood the news
to state. The guy was unhurt who was driving the overturned car.

Is that your understanding also?

Hole in Skyline along the crest of the mountain ridge above the San Andreas
Fault opened up this week.
http://i.cubeupload.com/Q9zsF5.jpg

Probably not the fault of the fault. More likely an underground
spring or river under the road, which undermined the pavement.

Yes. I didn't say it was the fault. I was just lining it up where it is for
the people who don't live here. The fault itself is closer to about 600
feet level while Skyline is something like 3000 foot level, so it's a
couple of miles as the crow flies from the actual fault itself.

Still, every road in the vicinity is cloesed, as you well know, from either
landslides or mudslides, as are every major trail in the canyons on the San
Jose side of the summit.

Why people in vans even think to attempt a crossing is beyond me.
http://i.cubeupload.com/HPg6Xo.jpg

Here's the story on the van:
http://www.ksbw.com/article/van-crashes-into-giant-gap-in-santa-cruz-mountains/8693694

Thanks for that underlying story on the blue van.
The photo, I know, is real; but it looks photoshopped.
It was emailed to me by a friend, so I trusted it.
Despite traveling as much as anyone, I've never had an accident in these
mountains. I just don't understand how anyone can fall into that hole,
unless they were parked over it when it happened.

Looking at your reference
http://www.ksbw.com/article/van-cras...ntains/8693694

It seems their picture is even more spectacular:
http://hips.htvapps.com/htv-prod-med...1486589973.jpg

His power was out, so he got candles at the store. He should just have had
a generator, like the rest of us have. The power went out about five or six
times this winter alone, once for 4 or 4 days already.

He was driving too fast for the conditions. He thought the hole was mud. It
was dark. It may have been raining. He had been on that road just an hour
before (and there wasn't a hole at that time).

The guy moved here from NY city just this week, and Monday was his first
day on the job. He's gonna learn that California weather, like the
residents, is wacky!

But, you can't believe anything on California news because everything tends
to the super monstrous liberal, so they distort facts accordingly (e.g., on
the so-called drought).

More Santa Cruz flood and mud photos:
https://www.google.com/search?q=santa+cruz+rain+photos&tbm=isch&tbs=qdr:w

This one of those is Highway 17 where the SUV flipped by the mudslide
(supposedly) and the worker died cleaning it up:
http://www.mercurynews.com/wp-conten.../img_39461.jpg

The mudslide wiped out both lanes of the northbound side, it seems:
http://www.mercurynews.com/wp-conten...uel-tha_21.jpg

This is apparently the remains of his SUV, flipped right-side up:
http://www.mercurynews.com/wp-conten.../img_39511.jpg

I'm trying to figure out where this one is?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4V7UT1UcAASgMk.jpg

Is that Skyline?
If so, it looks like it's a good place to put up a bridge.

View of the San Lorenzo river just outside my office:
http://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/sjm-storm-0208-403.jpg?w=620

Isn't that the same river that washed out Highway 9 last week?

Except for the usual roof leaks, my house and office downtown are
doing fine. My local (San Lorenzo Valley) weather page:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/wx/SLV-WX-links.html
Might be something of interest in there as most links can be adapter
to other areas.

I'm not sure what the plastic is supposed to do:
http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/k...5_1280x720.jpg

We have been getting horizontal rain over on the Loma side of things.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2017 11:59:50 -0800, Savageduck wrote:

...and yet in parts of the Central and Salinas Valleys, and some of the
Central and Southern California Counties, agriculture has sucked up so
much ground water it will take years to replenish via perculation, so
there the drought persists even with the surface being wet

It's my understanding that agriculture takes up 85% of California water.
Of course, they don't advertise that.
What they advertise on all the road signs is to conserve water at home.
Yet all the homes in California only take about 15% of the water.
And, we're already conserving like hell.

Yet, we have to pay for road signs to tell us to conserve water while we're
driving.

It's a political farce.

In article , PeterN
wrote:

Why people in vans even think to attempt a crossing is beyond me.
http://i.cubeupload.com/HPg6Xo.jpg

i doubt he was attempting to cross it. more likely he was not paying
any attention and only realized it when it was too late.


Said with your usual knowledge of the facts:

looks like i was exactly right:

http://www.ksbw.com/article/van-cras...-santa-cruz-mo
untains/8693694
"I saw what I thought was mud, I stepped on the brake, and it was too
late," he said.

On 2017-02-12 23:29:37 +0000, nospam said:

In article , PeterN
wrote:

Why people in vans even think to attempt a crossing is beyond me.
http://i.cubeupload.com/HPg6Xo.jpg

i doubt he was attempting to cross it. more likely he was not paying
any attention and only realized it when it was too late.


Said with your usual knowledge of the facts:

looks like i was exactly right:

http://www.ksbw.com/article/van-cras...-santa-cruz-mo
untains/8693694
"I saw what I thought was mud, I stepped on the brake, and it was too
late," he said.

....and he was one of those NY drivers who know how to drive in
California drizzle.
--
Regards,

Savageduck

On Sun, 12 Feb 2017 18:07:08 -0500, nospam wrote:

"I saw what I thought was mud, I stepped on the brake, and it was too
late," he said.

stupid driver syndrome.

According to the article Jeff referenced, the driver was from NY city.
It's his first week in California.
He didn't know how to drive on mountain roads (apparently).

In NY, you look for "black ice".
In CA, you look for black holes.

In article , Stijn De Jong
wrote:


"I saw what I thought was mud, I stepped on the brake, and it was too
late," he said.

stupid driver syndrome.

According to the article Jeff referenced, the driver was from NY city.
It's his first week in California.
He didn't know how to drive on mountain roads (apparently).

he's still a stupid driver.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2017 19:26:52 -0500, nospam wrote:

He didn't know how to drive on mountain roads (apparently).

he's still a stupid driver.

I am agreeing with you.
If you can't miss a 20 foot wide hole, you're not gonna miss a pedestrian
either. Or even a guardrail.

He was a bad driver, no doubt about it.
I agree with you.

You're supposed to maintain control of your vehicle, and driving into a
hole isn't maintaining control. He should have been able to stop.

If he couldn't stop, then he was driving too fast.
What if someone was standing in the road, for example.

He'd have run them over.