Slip Sliding Away

Rat Creek mudlside (Mercury News photo)

A stretch of Highway 1 near Rat Creek has fallen into the Pacific.

“It looks as if about half the road has given way now. It was hit by a debris flow, and the erosion — as its falling over the side of the road — is cutting back into the road away from the sea,” [Caltrans' Kevin] Drabinksi said.

“The mountain slid over onto the road, and in that rush, it started wearing away at the road. As it has gone over the side of the road, the erosion is cutting the road back away from the sea.”

2017 Mud Creek slide (CNN photo)

It was only four years ago that photos of the Mud Creek slide, 26 miles south of Rat Creek, made the national news.

For a State that is always asking its residents to conserve water, California sure is getting a lot of rain--enough water to cause floods and long-term road closures.

70 years ago we would have built more dams to limit flooding, store water for the summer, and generate hydroelectric power.

Now we are spending $billions to eliminate carbon emissions that the leaders say cause global warming and drought, which has not been a problem by the way for the past six years.

The social engineers who run the State today are so much smarter than the real engineers of the mid-20th century. The science is settled, unlike the ground under Highway 1.