Staying on This Side of the Westport Washout — Wednesday Is a Stay‑Home Day – Cruise With Us for the Last Summer Day of the Year — And Let’s Hope the Robbery and Drowning Mark the End of the Bad News

The storm didn’t hit as predicted on Tuesday, so we’re holding off on full storm coverage for now while we focus on the big washout and everything unfolding between Fort Bragg and Westport. Up to nine inches of rain are still forecast for the higher elevations through the weekend — stay tuned. We’re expecting around three inches in Cleone, and then come the king tides.

Every year, the Fort Bragg Lions Club brings joy to the community with the Senior Dinner, and we’ll be up early on Christmas morning cooking a full holiday meal. We’ll deliver to the shut‑ins on our list and offer pickup out front of the hall on Redwood. It’s one of the best traditions we have.

The Lions are a great club — come join us and help serve our community in so many ways. Learn more at https://www.fortbragglionsclub.org/Projects.html

For those who did not make reservations, we will still provide holiday meals curbside only from 1:20 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., while supplies last.

We were late in covering the drowning tragedy that happened Monday at MacKerricher. The story is now on our website, but authorities aren’t giving out much information. They say the woman was about 70 years old, had no identifying papers or ID, and no one in the park recognized her. They also told others that no car was found.

As Susan Fernbach asked here: How do they know she’s 70 if there were no papers? A good question — and as of our last check, they were still looking.

We’re concerned she may be someone from our own neighborhood in Cleone. Possibly a visitor staying at an Airbnb who walked down the Haul Road alone. Or perhaps a local resident living by herself. Some very kind people live quietly among us for years, and we only meet them on those walks.

If you know anything, please contact the county using the number provided in our story. We assume authorities have a sense of who she is, given that they’re providing an age — which is better than the alternative, where they truly don’t know and aren’t seeking help to identify her.

While this was unfolding on Monday, we went up to the road collapse north of Westport. Caltrans told us this was a major problem when we reported earlier on the growing list of issues they’re facing to the north — and now we’re seeing it play out exactly as they warned. about all the problems to the north Caltrans is facing.

We learned that the phantom culvert beneath the roadway finally collapsed, and the pavement dropped into the cavern it left behind. The culverts carrying a small creeklet into Wages Creek had been failing for years. This year the problem worsened, Caltrans studied it, and they developed a plan — one they hoped could wait until spring. But no.

We went up and photographed the site before the collapse. The issue was obvious in person but nearly impossible to capture: there were only inches of shoulder on either side, leaving no safe angle. We tried from below as well, but the dense shrubbery blocked any clear view.

When the road collapsed, Caltrans immediately recognized the severity of the problem and fully closed the highway. Crews rushed out to inspect the site. Because engineers had already identified the underlying issue, they were able to determine quickly that the roadway had dropped evenly on the east side — not the west, which would have been far more dangerous. After some emergency patching, Caltrans reversed course and announced they would reopen one lane to traffic.

I drove over it, looked closely, and took photos — and I’m not going that way again unless I’m headed to Leggett. I don’t want to risk getting stranded on the wrong side. That’s my take, not Caltrans’, but it’s how I’m living. I love those wild Lost Coast stretches, but this one feels like a gamble right now. You do what you think is best.

The rest of the story is just Linda’s and my rambles from yesterday. We saw some cool things out there, but now we’re advising everyone to stay home. I’ve moved the storm story to tomorrow, since the system hasn’t arrived the way it was predicted to.

Tomorrow we’ll look at how to track the rivers as they rise and fall, where flooding might occur if the storm arrives late as now forecast, and what to expect when the king tides hit during the first days of January. If a storm lines up with those whopper highs, that combination could mean real trouble.

Tides stay middling until the day after Christmas — that’s when coastal flooding could become an issue.