Storm cleanup could cost California more than $1B

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — The bill to repair California’s crumbling roads, dams and other critical infrastructure hammered by an onslaught of storms this winter could top $1 billion, including nearly $600 million for damaged roadways that more than doubles what the state budgeted for road repair emergencies, officials said Friday.

Adding to the problems, many communities have drained their emergency budgets and are looking to the state and federal government for help. On top of the latest damage, the nation’s most populated state is struggling with a $6 billion annual backlog of repairs for roads, highways and bridges.

Winter storms have dumped enough rain and snow on the northern part of the state to end a five-year drought, but with the wet weather comes a host of problems for crumbling infrastructure.

A section of mountain highway between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe has buckled, with repairs estimated to cost $6.5 million. In the Yosemite Valley, only one of three main routes into the national park’s major attraction is open because of damage or fear the roads could give out from cracks and seeping water, rangers said.

On central California’s rainsoaked coast, a bridge in Big Sur has crumbled beyond repair, blocking passage on the northsouth Highway 1 through the tourist destination for up to a year.

The total cost for responding to flooding, storm damage and repairs statewide in the first two months of 2017 will probably exceed $1 billion, Gov. Jerry Brown’s finance director, Michael Cohen, said Friday. Much of it will be covered by the federal government, which is helping the state recover from severe storms, he said.

The tally includes $595 million to clean up mudslides and repair state highways.

Early estimates to fix the Oroville Dam, whose spillways threatened to collapse and flood communities downstream, are as high as $200 million.

Several more weeks remain in California’s wet season, which could bring more damage.