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Main road to Yosemite closed indefinitely
AP on Yahoo ^ | 6/2/06 | AP

Posted on 06/02/2006 12:05:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

EL PORTAL, Calif. - The main road to Yosemite National Park was closed after a rock slide buried it under 300 feet of debris and threatened to knock out electricity to the park, officials said.

No one was injured in the slide about 12 miles west of the park on Highway 140, but rocks continued to fall Thursday, preventing crews from removing an estimated 250-300 tons of debris, fire officials said. It was not clear when the road would reopen.

"It looks like the mountain moved right over the road," said Carrie Smith of the California Highway Patrol, who reviewed pictures of the slide. "It looks like there should be a tunnel there, but there's not."

The slide began as a trickle of rocks April 29 and forced sporadic road closures last month. The road reopened last week, but on Monday the intensity of the slide increased.

The slide, which is 600 feet long, 600 feet wide and 300 feet deep, threatened to topple two power line towers carrying 72,000 volts of electricity to the town of El Portal and the park, said Mariposa County Fire Chief Blaine Shultz.

The power lines are the only source of power to the small community and the park, Shultz said.

Motorists were advised to use alternate routes into the park. Two routes from the south and the north were still open.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; closed; hwy140; indefinitely; mainroad; yosemite
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An autumn sunsets drapes El Capitan and the Yosemite valley with warm light in Yosemite National Park in this Oct. 21, 1997 file photo. Visitors can still find good deals in the national parks this summer, despite tight budgets and rising fees. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)


1 posted on 06/02/2006 12:05:57 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge
This was May 26th..

Boulders smash through a mesh retaining wall on May 26. Since then, debris has covered Highway 140, closing it indefinitely. Merced Sun-Star photo by Marci Stenberg

2 posted on 06/02/2006 12:07:26 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - "The Road to Peace in the Middle East runs thru Damascus.")
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To: NormsRevenge

Crikey!


3 posted on 06/02/2006 12:07:27 PM PDT by mylife (The roar of the masses could be farts)
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To: NormsRevenge

That's a monster slide. Some people from my office are working on it.


4 posted on 06/02/2006 12:08:00 PM PDT by BigBobber
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To: NormsRevenge

Bush's fault?
Global warming?


5 posted on 06/02/2006 12:09:15 PM PDT by mylife (The roar of the masses could be farts)
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To: NormsRevenge

With Yosemite falls in the background, park ranger Vickie Mates, left, and Yosemite Post Master Bill Carroll admire a new stamp unveiled Saturday, May 27, 2006, at the Yosemite Valley Post Office at Yosemite National Park, Calif. The news stamp, part of the 'Wonders of America: Land of Superlatives', is a 40-stamp set showing colorful drawings of such landmarks as Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the country's longest mountain chain, and Death Valley, one of the hottest places on earth. (AP Photo/Al Golub)

6 posted on 06/02/2006 12:09:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - "The Road to Peace in the Middle East runs thru Damascus.")
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To: NormsRevenge
Scared me. At first glance I though something may have happened to this guy:


7 posted on 06/02/2006 12:10:11 PM PDT by capt. norm (Ben Franklin: "Does thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that's the stuff life is made of")
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To: NormsRevenge

Looks like we're gonna need a bigger mesh.


8 posted on 06/02/2006 12:10:45 PM PDT by RobRoy
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To: BigBobber

With that great a volume of material covering the road, is there certainty that no vehicles have been trapped in there?


9 posted on 06/02/2006 12:10:48 PM PDT by HKMk23 (We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live.)
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To: NormsRevenge
Not the first time this has happened.

January 1997

10 posted on 06/02/2006 12:11:21 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: AnAmericanMother

there was one in 98 and 2000 as well


11 posted on 06/02/2006 12:12:57 PM PDT by mylife (The roar of the masses could be farts)
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To: BigBobber

I was trying to find some postable pics,

KTVU.com has some to look at but we can't post stuff from ibsys.com


12 posted on 06/02/2006 12:13:29 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - "The Road to Peace in the Middle East runs thru Damascus.")
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To: NormsRevenge

Boulder makes Yosemite roadless...Liberals cheer!


13 posted on 06/02/2006 12:14:02 PM PDT by bigfootbob
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To: bigfootbob

Bush hates Yosemite


14 posted on 06/02/2006 12:18:42 PM PDT by Fighting Irish
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To: AnAmericanMother

Thanks for the pic and reminder.


15 posted on 06/02/2006 12:20:22 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - "The Road to Peace in the Middle East runs thru Damascus.")
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To: NormsRevenge
Unstable geology and roads don't mix . . .

. . . and that part of the world could hardly be LESS stable.

( . . . we live on solid granite, but even here there were effects felt from the New Madrid Quake . . . )

16 posted on 06/02/2006 12:21:35 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: NormsRevenge

F&^%$#g global warming...


17 posted on 06/02/2006 12:24:41 PM PDT by pabianice
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To: NormsRevenge
preventing crews from removing an estimated 250-300 tons of debris

A slide L600' x W600' x D300' weights a lot more than 250-300 tons.

18 posted on 06/02/2006 12:27:52 PM PDT by fso301
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To: mylife

That sucks for all the park employees who live in El Portal. It's a long drive the other way around to get to work.


19 posted on 06/02/2006 12:29:04 PM PDT by Rev DMV
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To: fso301

No kidding.
More like 250-300 thousand tons
Or 250-300 million pounds.


20 posted on 06/02/2006 12:30:47 PM PDT by calljack (Sometimes your worst nightmare is just a start.)
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