Rain keeps Highway 38 closed

Mudslides, flash floods obstruct Angelus Oaks area

A stretch of Highway 38 that was closed Sunday in the San Bernardino Mountains because of mudslides and flash flooding remained shut down Monday as more rain and flooding hampered cleanup efforts, officials said.

The closure remained in place in both directions between Jenks Lake Road and Valley of the Falls Drive near Angelus Oaks as of

Monday afternoon, said Eric Sherwin, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

That area is in the burn scar created by the El Dorado fire of 2020.

The highway closure was expected to remain in effect overnight to allow for further cleanup today, said Emily Leinen, a spokeswoman for Caltrans.

On Monday, crews with Caltrans removed 2,000 cubic yards of material from the highway,

Leinen said. An additional 6,000 cubic yards needed to be removed, Caltrans officials said.

Workers were also doing slope assessments in the burn scar but were unable to finish them Monday because of approaching storms, Leinen said. Residents still have access to the area but may have to take other roads to their homes, she said.

“We are asking that individuals who do not have immediate business in the area to please stay away at this time so crews can continue to work and make progress,” Leinen said.

While much of the flooding and debris flows took place in the burn scar area Sunday, flash floods impacted areas around Big Bear Lake on Monday, Sherwin said.

Around noon, fire crews had to rescue a pair trapped inside a car in a flooded roadway on the north shore of Big Bear Lake, Sherwin said. No injuries were reported, he said. West of the Stanfield Cutoff on Big Bear Lake’s north shore, fire crews and the California Highway

Patrol rescued four motorists stuck in water that reached their car’s frame, according to Sherwin and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

No injuries were reported in the incident.

“We can expect more rainfall and slides,” Sherwin said. “Caltrans is working to reopen those roads, but it will be hampered by additional storms today.”

Mudslides continued throughout several areas of Highway

38 on Monday afternoon along the edges of burn scars, Sherwin said. The specific areas impacted were not immediately clear.

Flash floods occurred after 0.98 inches of rainfall in just an hour earlier in the afternoon at

Mill Creek Canyon near Oak Glen, which is in the mountains south of the Highway 38 closure, said Mark Moede, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Many areas nearby are within the burn scar of the Apple fire, which had become an area of concern for possible flooding and debris flows Monday, said weather service meteorologist Elizabeth

Schenk.

While the Angelus Oaks area saw less rainfall Monday, areas east of Big Bear Lake received 0.8-1.72 inches of rainfall, Schenk said. Big Bear City received 1.22 inches.

“Don’t let your guard down,” Schenk said.

On Sunday, there were reports of about 30 cars stuck in floods and debris flows along Highway 38, prompting “numerous” swift-water rescues, but there were no injuries, Sherwin said.

To the north, roads within Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County were heavily damaged in flash flooding, which took place throughout the High Desert on Sunday.