The California Department of Transportation reports a half mile of Highway 395 between Lee Vining and Mono City was buried under 30-40 feet of debris in an avalanche.
Highway 395 is closed in Walker Canyon due to avalanche danger and for heavy snow between Bridgeport and Lee Vining.
But that hasn’t stopped people from skiing the closed highway, Mono County officials said in Monday’s situation report.
County spokesman Justin Caporusso said avalanches could occur without notice either naturally or do to control efforts.
Mono is on the list of California counties that have been declared a federal disaster area.
Highway 395 has been closed in at least one place through Mono County for the past two weeks.
Bridgeport has been isolated by the closure of Highway 395 and Highway 182 due to flooding.
“There is no estimated time for opening the section of U.S. 395 north of Lee Vining where a series of avalanches took out transmission facilities and crossed the road, burying sections under 30-40 feet of snow and debris,” Caporusso said.
An evacuation order is in place for the south side of June Lake Loop with an evacuation center at the June Lake Community Center.
For emergency information, Mono County residents and visitors may call 211.
On Sunday, Alpine County declared a state of emergency and closed its offices on Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for today’s storm.
Alpine County Unified Command opened a warming shelter at the Behavioral Health Services building located at 40 Diamond Valley Road in Markleeville. There will be lunch services provided to Alpine County residents affected by the recent storms from noon – 1 p.m.
Services will be provided remotely over the two days and all meetings have been canceled for the week.
Sandbag fill locations are at the fire stations in Markleeville and Woodfords.
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