Road closures, accidents, reported across SLO County

Posted: 8:17 am, January 9, 2023 by Editor Skye Pratt

Flooding at Old County Road at Las Tablas in Templeton. Photo by Jason Brock.

Rainfall continuously pummels SLO County, region

– Paso Robles should anticipate a continuous surge of rain today and tomorrow, according to weather forecasts. Weather Underground is predicting over two inches of rain today and .37-inches tomorrow, before a two-day break from showers. Rain is once again in the forecast on Friday, continuing through the weekend and into next week.

Click here to view a 10-day forecast for Paso Robles

Rainfall totals

So far, Paso Robles has measured .02 inches of rain on Saturday, .52 inches on Sunday, and 1.91 inches this morning. The season total is 13.26 inches of rain.

The highest monthly rainfall record for Paso Robles was in January 1969. The city recorded 13.93 inches of rainfall that month. It was called “The Hundred Year Storm of 1969,” in San Luis Obispo County when rain fell in the first 25 days of the year.

Paso Robles Water Division has recorded an average annual rainfall total of 14.11 inches from 1942 – June 2014.

Click here to view the Paso Robles Rainfall Totals page.

Click here to view rainfall records going back to 1942.

Road closures

Multiple road closures are in effect in San Luis Obispo County and the surrounding areas. As of Monday morning, the following closures have been reported:

Airport Road and Running Stag Way in the Meadowlark neighborhood of Paso Robles.

Rain floods Salinas Ave. at Hawley St. in Templeton. Click here to view video.

North County

South River Road and Navajo Road to 13th Street are closed due to rock and debris run-off.
North River Road from north of Union Road to the county line is closed.
Templeton Road is actively flooding.
Las Tablas is closed at Old County Road, rain water is currently overflowing.
A traffic collision has been reported on Hwy 101 at Cuesta Grade.
The intersection of Creston Road and Scott Road is flooding.
There is a mudslide on Highway 101 South at the Las Tablas exit. Templeton Fire has two units on the scene shoveling the mud and dirt out of the way to open it, according to eye witnesses

San Luis Obispo

Highway 101 and Marsh Street off-ramp closed due to flooding
Highway 101 and Madonna Road off-ramp flooded
State Route 1 and Kansas Avenue lane 2 are closed due to flooding
Los Osos Valley Road and West Foothill Boulevard flooded

A Caltrans sign in Paso Robles warns of severe weather and to avoid travel today.

Closure of Highway 1 remains in place

The closure of Highway 1 from Ragged Point in San Luis Obispo County, to just south of Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn in Monterey County remains in place.

Caltrans maintenance crews have responded today to multiple smaller slides inside and just north of the closure area. Some locations remain active, and crews are continuing to clear the roadway. Maintenance crews will continue daytime patrols throughout the closure area. The gates at Paul’s Slide (PM 22), are closed and will remain closed 24-hours a day.

Caltrans will continue to take advantage of any break in inclement weather to assess road conditions and provide access as long as the conditions are favorable for public travel. We anticipate that an opportunity to reopen this closure may occur sometime in the middle of this week.

The southern closure of Highway 1 will remain at the elephant seal viewing area, four miles north of San Simeon. A significant slide, one mile south of Ragged Point, extends over both lanes of travel. As a result, the highway is impassible at this location and is expected to restrict access to Ragged Point from the south for several weeks.

Road information and updates can also be found on Caltrans District 5 Social Media platforms: Twitter at: @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.

⚠️ Update Sun 1/8 —Mon 1/9 ⚠️
TRAVEL IS HIGHLY DISCOURAGED TONIGHT THROUGH TOMORROW! If you have to go out (first, think twice and if you’re still so inclined) check https://t.co/GA6Wb5OThg or call 1-800-427-7623 and #knowbeforeyougo #BeSafe pic.twitter.com/05ftLGRvh7
— Caltrans HQ (@CaltransHQ) January 9, 2023

Cambria Community Services District Fire Department responded overnight to multiple calls for service including a large tree into a house, a tree into a water line, multiple trees into power lines, and multiple trees across roadways.

Cal Fire reports a water rescue underway on San Marcos Road west of town. There are reports of a vehicle trapped in high water.

ADVISORY: Weather system delivering significant precipitation and heavy winds. As with last weekend’s storm, flooding, downed trees & road closures may impact timely restoration. Customers are strongly urged to prepare for potential extended outages. https://t.co/knqM069MSO pic.twitter.com/wkVFRXVsRF
— Carina Corral (@PGE_Carina) January 9, 2023

Los Osos has recorded 2+” of rain as of 7 a.m. PG&E weather stations in the Santa Lucia mountains report wind gusts of 69 mph. NOAA’s HRRR indicates between 3 and 5″, with 10+” in the mountains today into Tuesday. This storm is approaching the severity of the March 1995 system. pic.twitter.com/Z7LV8MFzgX
— John Lindsey (@PGE_John) January 9, 2023

KSBY’s morning news was taken off the air Monday due to storm-related technical problems. Their engineers are working to fix the problem, KSBY reports.

Current outage map as of 9:20 a.m.

Due to storm conditions, PG&E is reporting 4,911 customers without power, including a large power outage reported on Airport Road in Paso Robles. Click here to view current outages.