Hello from California’s high desert. I hope you all weathered the weekend’s storm okay and aren’t dealing with too much cleanup this week.
Onto this week’s news:
In local news:
Here is the latest on road conditions in and around the Morongo Basin, as of 2 p.m. today:
The Bob Hope exit on I-10 is closed indefinitely. The exit ramp was washed away during extreme flooding last weekend. The #4 lane on I-10 Eastbound leading up to the Bob Hope exit is also closed, so expect delays in that area.
The Westbound on-ramp from Monterey onto I-10 is closed due to flood damage. It does not currently have an estimated time to reopen.
Gene Autry Trail is closed due to severe flood damage. There is no estimated time for its reopening. The #4 lane on I-10 Eastbound is closed near the Gene Autry exit for maintenance crews.
Indian Canyon Drive is closed due to severe flood damage where pavement has been washed away in some areas. There is no estimated time to reopening.
Dillon Road at Indian Canyon Drive is closed due to roadway damage. Crews are actively working to reopen the roadway.
The shoulders on both sides of Route 62 are closed between Indian Canyon and Pierson due to damage on the supporting bridge during the weekend’s flooding. CHP advises that closures on this will change as maintenance work on the bridge begins and to expect lengthy delays.
The #2 lane of Route 62 is closed from mile marker 6 to mile marker 3 in Joshua Tree for debris removal.
Indian Cove Road into Joshua Tree National Park is closed indefinitely. All dirt roads inside the National Park are also closed, but paved roads are currently open.
Route 62 east of Route 177 is operating with a single-lane due to partial storm damage.
CA-247 is open, but there is ample debris and standing water still on the road. Drive cautiously throughout the area.
CA-38 is fully closed from Jenks Lake Road to Lakewood Road in both directions with no estimated time to reopen. The road is operating as a single-lane opening from Jenks Lake down to Old Mill Creek Road due to landslide damage.
All roads in Mojave National Preserve are currently closed without an estimated time to reopen due to storm damage.
Some other closures and storm items to note:
Whitewater Canyon Preserve is closed indefinitely due to storm damage.
Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is closed indefinitely due to storm damage.
Pioneertown Mountains Preserve is closed indefinitely due to storm damage.
Death Valley National Park is closed indefinitely due to storm damage.
The railroad tracks near Palm Desert were heavily damaged during the flood event, so expect rail congestion in the area as well as some supply issues in the coming months due to decreased traffic from the Port of Long Beach, one of the major international shipping ports in the U.S.
Don’t throw out those sandbags! This winter will feature a strong El Niño event, which typically results in more winter storms for the Basin.
Post offices in Forest Falls, Morongo Valley, North Palm Springs, and Shoshone are closed due to storm damage.
If you have a Joshua tree that was damaged during the storm, remember to fill out County permits prior to moving or relocating the trees in accordance with its protections.
Mount San Jacinto obliterated rainfall records with a whopping 11.74 inches recorded during the storm. In comparison, Morongo Valley saw 5.75 inches, Palm Desert saw 3.82 inches, Desert Hot Springs got 3.23, and Big Bear Lake got 2.88 inches.
In non-storm news, Snakebite Roadhouse is now open in the old Diner 62 space in Yucca Valley.
Leonard X. Hernandez resigned as CEO of San Bernardino County on Friday after going out on a leave of absence on August 8. He is leaving due to an “urgent family health issue,” Z107.7 reports.
In state news:
Laura Ann Carleton, the owner of Mag.Pi clothing store in Lake Arrowhead who also went by Lauri, was shot and killed for displaying a rainbow Pride flag at her store.
The suspect, 27-year old Travis Ikeguchi, was killed in a standoff with law enforcement. It is being investigated as a hate crime.
A 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck Sunday afternoon near Ojai, during the brunt of the storm from Hurricane Hilary.
In other news:
India successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 lander on the surface of the Moon Wednesday, days after a Russian lander crashed into the lunar surface ahead of its landing attempt.
Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, and Idina Menzel have all fired notorious musician manager Scooter Braun in the last few days, sparking rumors of a coming scandal with the embattled manager. Braun is best known for his feud with Taylor Swift, who rerecorded her first six albums after he bought the studio that owned her masters.
Pupdate of the week: Oliver was not thrilled to deal with the rain over the weekend, but did get a set of fresh zoomies once or twice. Alice, on the other hand, could not be convinced to leave the covered patio. She is a Southern California girl through and through.
Trail tip of the week: Many trails and parks have sustained substantial damage from last week’s storm, so this might be a good week to stay at home or explore paved paths that were spared. Better yet, sign up to volunteer with clean up efforts in Joshua Tree National Park, Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, and Mojave National Preserve! Those folks have enough on their plate as it is, so staying home is a great way to avoid adding more issues for them to handle.
Read of the week: If that music industry gossip piqued your interest, boy do I have a book for you. Sellout by Dan Ozzi is an incredible in-depth look at the punk scene of the late 1990s and early 2000s following the meteoric rise of Green Day and the frenzy it kicked up at major labels across the country. The book covers roughly 12 bands’ experiences working with major labels, from good to ugly and everything in between. And if you’re anything like me, it’ll inspire a bit of punk renaissance on your Spotify listening this week.
Watch of the week: We’re still in a bit of a holding pattern for new T.V. due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood, so I’ve been catching up on a few reality shows I missed. Hulu has a great collection of shows that originally aired on ABC and CBS, and Netflix has the full library of Survivor. If you go the very trashy reality route (who doesn’t, at some point), Peacock has the always reliable Vanderpump Rules.
That’s it for this week! I hope you are all hanging in there and are able to get some time outside before the heat returns.
- Megan