UPDATED: Rain and mudslides lead to road closures, evacuations.

After a weekend storm delivered consistent rain and wind to the region, dropping 13 inches on high peaks in Big Sur, a mudslide led to the closure of Highway 1 in Big Sur. 

The slide happened about two miles south of Ventana Inn, and the highway is closed in both directions from Ventana to Ragged Point, just south of the county line. Caltrans reports several smaller slides between those two points. 

“Mother Nature takes it toll and we can only do so much,” says Caltrans spokesperson Susana Cruz.

Late Sunday night and early Monday morning, Jan. 9, the Carmel River rose above a levee, flooding a baseball field and 10 Carmel Valley homes along Paso Hondo, at the edge of Carmel Valley Village. Two people were evacuated from flooded homes in the middle of the night, according to Gerry Malais, manager of the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services. 

The evacuation was voluntary, and one evacuee was a hospice patient who was relocated to a local hospital. The other was an elderly woman who went to stay with her son. 

County officials set up an evacuation shelter at Carmel Middle School. The only people who showed up were three homeless people and two dogs, Malais says, not residents of the Paso Hondo area.

County emergency officials are continuing damage assessments throughout the day, and this post will be updated with more information as it's made available. 

Monterey County Public Works is also reporting several road closures, due to flooding, as of Monday morning. 

In Carmel Valley, Boronda Road is closed at the intersection with Garzas Road. Roads in the Paso Hondo and Cresta neighborhood are open only to residents, Carroll says. 

In the Salinas area, South Davis Road is closed from Hitchcock to Reservation, Old Stage Road is closed near Natividad Road and San Juan Grade Road is closed from Rogge to Stirling. 

In Prunedale, Echo Valley Road has one lane open and traffic is moving slowly.

Just south of the county line, Trafton Road, near the banks of the Pajaro River, is closed to traffic.

"We want people who live near waterways to be mindful of their surroundings," Carroll says. "We saw over the weekend the problems it can create."

Sandbag pick-up locations are posted on OES winter preparedness page.