Highway 50 Mudslide Closes Road, Leaves Big Cleanup

EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS 13) – A series of mudslides on Friday afternoon shut down Highway 50 in both directions. Now cleanup crews are facing an estimated 4,000 yards of large boulders and trees spread across the road.

"It's weird," said Karen Case. "This is surreal, kind of don't think this would happen."

Case is one of about a dozen SMUD employees trapped between two mudslides near Pollock Pines.

RELATED: Sheriff Warns Highway 50 GPS Detours May Lead To Worse Conditions

"We were at the power house working late and while the slide happened and didn't have passage to get back to our homes," she said.

The mudslide began around 4:25 Friday afternoon. Echo Summit local Joey Anderson was already in Sacramento picking up his daughter from the bus station.

"There was a little slide when I came down around 3 o'clock," he said. "It was blocking one lane of traffic."

But just 25 miles from home, the California Highway Patrol told him he'd have to find another way. His detour will add about 2 hours to his journey.

"We're hoping that some of the alternate routes will open up and we can start sending people that way," said Officer Ian Hoey, CHP Placerville.

"We're going to start eating our way into it with excavators and loaders, getting the stuff mucked out and hauled off," said Matt Veerkamp, vice president of Doug Veerkamp General Engineering.

Veerkamp's company has been contracted by Caltrans to clear the road. He estimated there are about 2,500 yards of debris on the road and 1,500 yards still on the hill.

A CHP spokesperson estimated the clean up to take anywhere from 24 to 36 hours at best to get the road clear. But Veerkamp told CBS 13 the timeline on when this will all be clear depends on where his crews can take this debris.

"If it's close, we might be able to get this cleaned up by the weekend," Veerkamp said. "If we have to start trucking this stuff out of the canyon, it could be into next week. We'll go as fast as we can."

According to El Dorado Co Sheriff's Department, several drivers have tried to find a way around Highway 50 using their GPS units. However, they're running into roads that are closed for the winter so they recommend drivers turn around if they encounter snow or dirt roads.