Wes Rizor stands near tree fallen on power line

By Marcia E. Gawecki

At approximately 3:36 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 10, a mild earthquake shook Idyllwild. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but came on the heels of several natural onslaughts in recent days.

On Tuesday evening, Feb. 9, Idyllwild received about six inches of more snowfall. This was added to an already snow-packed base on the ground from a couple of weeks ago. Around 9 p.m. after it stopped snowing, Highway 243 was relatively clear, but the side streets were still hard to maneuver and vehicles were moving cautiously.

There were some trees that had fallen on power lines, but none has caused any power outages. “It’ll take a lot more than that tree to put out the power,” said resident Wes Rizor, who lives near Idyllwild Arts Academy, and used to drive for them. “I remember one year before spring break, the snow was falling so hard that we couldn’t even get the vans up the hill to the girl’s dorm,” Wes said. “They had to walk down the hill with all of their suitcases.”

Moreover, on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 6. a mud and rock slide caused major road damage to a section of Hwy. 74 at the Cottonwood burn area (at the base of the hill). The California Highway Patrol closed Hwy. 74 from Mountain Center to Hemet until further notice. Steve Hudson, an Idyllwild resident, said that it may take up to one month for the road to be fixed. In the meantime, residents are going through Garner Valley and Banning to get down the hill.

On Jan. 29, on Hwy. 243, near the U.S. Forest Service Alandale Station, a boulder slid onto the road around 10:30 p.m. (see post on this site for photos and more details). It was safely removed within a few hours.

Boulder moved to side of Hwy. 243

For the latest weather information in Idyllwild, visit the Town Crier web site, www.towncrier.com, and for up-to-the-minute earthquake information, visit the Green Cafe web site, www.greencafe.com. This local site uses earthquake information programmed from government web sites. As a service, it provides information about earthquakes that occur near Idyllwild and from around the world.

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