CHP image from North of LA. I'm not certain if this was on 5 or 58. It was posted on Facebook.

well the good news is "the Brophys held"

It was the openning video on the 6 pm EST NBC evening news last night... from a heliocopter ot a drone... It was still wet mud in the picture that I saw.I didn't catch the details.... was it parked? were there occupants? was the driver trying to cross a wash area?The camper might not be hurt that bad.... ????Thanks for posting it...Sleepy

The watery silt may have nearly covered that rig during the apex period of the overland flow. Subsequent rains probably washed the silty film off the exposed parts of the rig, when the overland flow subsided (thus the clean-looking exposed surfaces). Extrapolating the buried part of the rig, probably ~~20% of the truck camper is buried under the silt/mud.This begs the question: how and where did the occupant(s) get out/go ???Imagine the scenario: being overtaken by the muddy/silty/boulder infested/tree limb suspension 500 feet, 1000 feet, 1 mile wide?! Water gets heavier to wade through when its made up of say, 20, 30, 60% mud/silt/rock/shredded tree limbs !Unfortunately, the Southwest surface morphology and land cover is all wrong for any sustained and uncharacteristic precipitation (basically sand, silt, rock, and absolutely no humus (natural compost) or broad-leaf forest). So, when the Southwest gets this uncharacteristic rainfall (like it has in fall of 2015 and will be getting into 2016, because of big/macro changes in the Pacific Ocean dynamics), you see huge swaths of mineral soil, with almost no organic content, turn into up to several mile wide raging mud flows, with millions of tons of broken tree limbs, boulders, and silt scrubbing entire valley floors. In a tight canyon situation, the whole bottom can turn into a roiling muddy white water (brown water).Given the above uncharacteristic climate, it is imperative that when out in the back-country, you understand just what areas can be suddenly turned into something like the Colorado River, but 20 or more times as wide. We have modeling software that can simulate various overland flow situations based on various precipitation scenarios, and project the results onto a terrain (digital terrain model with flood-water drape). Also, the Government produces flood maps for the desert, showing more-or-less where and how wide decadal precipitation events can inundate.

I often have these premonitions, like camping out on a slight terrain rise of 30 feet I found using flood simulation software, on the bucholic desert flats tens of miles wide in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, the Quartzsite BLM, or at the base of Santa Catalina Mountains; and overnight, an unusual monsoon hits, and we wake up on an island completely surrounded by something like the Niagara River (but a roiling dark-brown sludge of water, tree limbs, boulders, flowing at 40 or 50 miles an hour)...standing on the roof of the Outfitter Caribou.With the crazy unprecedented (in modern times) climate we have been experiencing, the Southwest back-country has been less enticing for us to explore, and the Southeast coast gives me weather nightmares now.

From the news out here. no drivers were killex or injured on the roads hit by the mudslides.

Mudslides | Good Sam Community

HarmsWay
Explorer
Oct 22, 2015
SR58 appears to be open again. Very sorry to hear of the fatality.
dakonthemountai
Explorer
Oct 21, 2015
slickrock steve wrote:
AS we now know, there was a guy buried inside his car on L-4, and 63rd st west in Palmdale. Also, one up in the 178 pass to Weldon is missing. So these slide were, and are, a real mess. I live maybe 18 miles away from the Palmdale guy, and we too had some pretty horrible flooding and mud slides at my house.

I was so sorry to hear this bad news.... Sending prayers out to those lost and their families.. And sorry about the slides at your home. I've had small ones at my home in the mountain and I know what havoc they can wreak!

Dak
mkirsch
Nomad II
Oct 21, 2015
slickrock steve wrote:
I live about 18 miles away from both the flood, and mud in Elizabeth Canyon. We too had huge flows in our buttes of East Lake Los Angeles. In fact my horse corrals, and run in sheds were undermined, and now I must go fix what the county of los Angeles said could not happen if they did not fix my drainage on their land!!

At least they're letting you fix it!

Up here in NY, heavy rains caused a creek to shift drastically overnight, about 50', undermining the corner of a farmer's machine shed.

Dept. of Soil Conservation would absolutely NOT let him fix it! Said it would be disrupting the natural course of the creek. It's fixed now but it was like that for years while he fought the state.
slickrock_steve
Explorer
Oct 21, 2015
AS we now know, there was a guy buried inside his car on L-4, and 63rd st west in Palmdale. Also, one up in the 178 pass to Weldon is missing. So these slide were, and are, a real mess. I live maybe 18 miles away from the Palmdale guy, and we too had some pretty horrible flooding and mud slides at my house.
dakonthemountai
Explorer
Oct 20, 2015
I just came back from a trip to Yosemite with the TC and when I went over the Grapevine coming south you could still see the piles and walls of mud that had been removed from the 5. I can only imagine (in my worst nightmares!) how bad it was on the 58! I'm also thankful there were no injuries or lost folks..

Dak
jmcgsd
Explorer
Oct 18, 2015
On the more serious side -- snow already has Tioga Pass closed today. That's good news!
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Oct 18, 2015
We do have copperheads in CA, but those I have seen are small.
The sea-snakes our TV shows are huge.
They were spotted on CA shores 30 years ago in another weather swing.
ol__grouch
Explorer
Oct 18, 2015
Kayteg1 wrote:
Something else to worry - this coming El Nijo might bring venomous sea snakes to California coast. WATCH OUT ;)

I doubt I'll see those in Indiana. The Copperheads would probably eat them anyway.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Oct 18, 2015
Something else to worry - this coming El Nijo might bring venomous sea snakes to California coast. WATCH OUT ;)
silversand
Explorer
Oct 18, 2015
Grit Dog:

Yes. And, the shutdown / slowdown of the thermohaline Atlantic circulation, causing the on-set of a Northern Hemisphere glaciation period commencing in 20 years or so :B

Not the kind of worries that affect more than about 1 person in 40 million, so not to worry :B