Road closures due to first winter storm of the season
UPDATE Wednesday AM: All local roadways are open again, although a couple of wash crossings continue to have lane restrictions due to water and mud.
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Rainy weather caused road closures Tuesday morning.
In Cathedral City: Cathedral Canyon Drive was CLOSED at the Whitewater wash crossing. The road was back open shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday.
In Palm Springs: Vista Chino Drive was OPEN through the wash, but it’s #2 westbound lane was closed due to water on the road.
Gene Autry Trail and Indian Canyon Drive were both OPEN, but the #2 southbound lane of Indian Canyon through the wash was closed due to the flooded roadway.
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A Sig Alert was issued Tuesday morning after a big rig collided with a truck on I-10 in Indio. Check out dashcam footage of the accident below:
Pictures below show a crash on I-10 in Whitewater and a rock slide along Highway 111 at Windy Point.
Have cool pictures of the storm? We’d love to see them! Share them at SHARE@KESQ.COM or tag us on social media.
In Rancho Mirage: Frank Sinatra Drive and Country Club Drive were both OPEN through the wash.
In La Quinta: Dune Palm Drive was OPEN through its wash crossing.
In Indio: Avenue 44 was OPEN at its Whitewater wash crossing near Interstate 10 despite some water on the road.
A low-pressure system has brought the first storm of the year to the Coachella Valley. High winds and rain are expected throughout the valley. The storm moved through the Southland overnight and into Tuesday. It is bringing with it the possibility of up to 0.75″ of rain for the Coachella Valley.
Check out our weather section for the latest storm updates
This is the first rainfall to hit the Coachella Valley since September. On September 9, a total of 1.19 inches fell in the city of Palm Springs. National Weather Service San Diego said it is the most rain in a 24-hour period in the history of Palm Springs. The rain was so severe, multiple parts of the city were flooded. Safari Mobile Home Park in Palm Springs was one of the areas hit the hardest.
KESQ / CBS Local 2’s Lauren Coronado spoke with Safari Park residents about how they are preparing for this storm.
Read: Palm Springs mobile home park community gears up for the rain
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/CathedralCityPD/status/950406760904314880″,”author_name”:”CathedralCity PD”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/CathedralCityPD”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;With rain expected in the next coming days, we want to remind everyone to drive safely. Slow down as our roads are prone to flooding. Be mindful of road signs and the wash which may need to close. Never go around barricades as the water can sweep your vehicle away. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/1JyEqoDBrd”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/1JyEqoDBrd&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– CathedralCity PD (@CathedralCityPD) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/CathedralCityPD/status/950406760904314880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 8, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
Multiple warnings and alerts will be in effect starting Tuesday:
High Wind Warning in most of the valley from 6 am to 10 pm Tuesday Winter Storm Warning in the mountains: Midnight to 10 pm Tuesday Flash Flood Watch for the Inland Empire and Coastal areas.: 1 am to 10 pm Tuesday
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/RSO/status/950518800394301440″,”author_name”:”Riverside County Sheriff’s Dept”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/RSO”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;With all this rain we’re getting today, please remember to buckle up, turn on your headlights and drive slowly & safely &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/jmCd4t9Tkt”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/jmCd4t9Tkt&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Riverside County Sheriff’s Dept (@RSO) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/RSO/status/950518800394301440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 9, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
Snow will also fall in areas above 5,000 feet. The snow line will drop to 5,000 by Tuesday morning as the front passes, meaning snow for the Top of the Tram, Big Bear, and even Idyllwild.
KESQ / CBS Local 2’s Alex Cheney was live at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway as they prepared for the snowfall of the season.
Read: Palm Spring Tram gearing up for first snowfall of the season
By Wednesday the storm will leave the region and temperatures will warm back up as fair weather returns. This is a quick moving storm, but local impacts could mean street flooding, and icy road in higher elevations, so continue to monitor changing weather conditions.
Sandbags to curb potential flooding are available as well at local sheriff’s stations and fire stations. They are also available at the Mecca North Shore Community Center, 91-391 66th Ave. and the
Rummonds Senior Center, 87-229 Church St. in Thermal.
More: I-Team and Stands for You investigations
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