Up to 18 inches of mud cleared from Varner

Colin Atagi

A combination of heavy rain and off-road vehicles was blamed for the first mudslide to occur in at least 14 years on a Cathedral City road.

Sand and dirt that loosened over time by off-road vehicles smothered Varner Road Tuesday as .38 inch of rain fell in the desert, Cathedral City Public Works Manager Pat Milos said Wednesday.

Crews soon found themselves clearing a road that for years had, at the most, been flooded during rainstorms.

“(Mudslides are) pretty rare, actually,” Milos said. “I've been here for five years, and this is the first time I've seen this.”

Workers cleared the road of 20 mudslides, which were up to 60 feet wide or 18 inches deep.

Two vehicles got trapped in the mud, which was removed by 11 a.m. Wednesday.

“The westbound lanes were hit the worst, but (mud) got into eastbound lanes as well,” Milos said.

It was too early to say Wednesday how much money the mudslide cost Cathedral City, but future abatement will be handled under the North City development, north of Interstate 10, city spokesman Allen Howe said.

He said there aren't any permitted areas for off-road vehicles in Cathedral City, but it was also too early to say if they played a role in the mudslide.

Palm Desert resident Stephen Hoffman is an avid all-terrain vehicle rider who thinks people who operate them illegally make him and others look bad, he said Wednesday.

He doesn't dispute people go off-roading in the hills north of I-10, but he only uses paths and fields that allow ATVs outside the Coachella Valley.

“I don't think (all riders) should be blamed for a mudslide; we don't all go (to the foothills),” Hoffman said.

“We're not here to tear up anyone's property.”

Riverside County Transportation Department Division Manager Mojahed Salama agreed that off-road vehicles have been a problem in the foothills and that they may lead to mudslides on county land.

Drivers tend to ride their vehicles on access roads before going off the path and down the hillside, he said.

“They just kick dirt as they go up,” Salama said. “When it rains, a lot of that dirt gets washed down.”

He said, however, that mudslides in the county territory have been rare.

“If there is (a mudslide), it would be very minor,” Salama said.

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Source: http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101021/NEWS01/10210312/Up-to-18-inches-of-mud-cleared-from-Varner

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