The seemingly unceasing rain has inflicted yet another impact on the Mount Hermon community. Recently, high winds toppled a number of trees, crushing cabins and the Manzanita Lodge. Then, the torrential rains caused the hillside behind Pine Lodge to slide onto the trail below and obliterating Meditation Chapel that overlooked Bean Creek. Today, the last many weeks of more than a foot of absolute downpours, hail and wind wreaked havoc on the hillside behind Terrace Way sending trees, mud and debris onto Conference Drive, cutting off electrical power and blocking traffic. As of 2:00 p.m., some electrical power had been restored yet it may be several more hours until all households are with electricity. Road work is underway yet it may be that the road will not be cleared for one additional day.
Local contractor and resident, Dave Stallings may have been the last vehicle to pass through the area before the slide. “As I came up Conference Drive, small rocks were beginning to fall so I got on my phone to call for help”, said Dave. By then, the trees were beginning to come down and then it all came down. Thankfully, no one was injured and no properties were damaged by the slide.
Mount Hermon Association is coordinating the clean up of its roadway and has posted additional information on its website. In the interim, traffic will be diverted up Forest Rd. or Pine Ave. over to reach Graham Hill Rd. via Summit Ave. For additional updates, copy and paste this link into your browser:
http://mounthermon.org/blog/march-2011-winter-storm-updates/
