Tram Rd shut down indefinately

[Ed]

The economic disaster and dislocation caused by the rain and floods of 1862 were mentioned in Eternity Street, by John Mack Faragher, a book on the wild west violence of Southern California. A great book, Dodge City was tame compared to LA.

[cynthia23]

Thanks Ed, I'm going to look for that book on Amazon. I get the best reading recommendations on this board!

Just saw that snow levels from today's new storm expected to drop as low as 2000 feet.

[TectorGorch]

i bought it yesterday at thriftbooks.com for $7...

[Ed]

I have seen it in the Barnes&Noble in Palm Desert where, strangely, it's been in the California section, not the American History one. The author is a So Cal native who is a history professor at Yale.

[Wildhorse]

I don’t know whether Palm Springs government has the right to be surprised by this flood. I don’t know if Palm Springs has a plan for adapting to climate change. Does anyone here know?

I consider the valley unsafe in the summer months because a catastrophe like an earthquake could wreck infrastructure and shut down the water system and home electrical cooling systems that enable life here for so many people.

Maybe winter will become unsafe too because of the flood and storm risks to the infrastructure.

My impression is that the city council now favors development as much as the other cities in the valley, without due fear of the risks.

[hiiker]

Climate Change, oh boy here we go, I knew someone would eventually mention it somewhere in this discussion.

The planet has been going thru Climate Change for 4.5 billion years. No planning by humans is going to prepare for all types of change that could or might take place in our distance future. The planet is going to keep on a changing no matter what we do.

Palm Springs has probably done what any modern city can do to prepare for the future. Do the best they can and hope for the best.

[guest]

It's How Much & Fast it's changing.
I've lived here 30+ yrs., many on this board longer. We had 8" in 12-14 hrs. where I live, 20 min. from PS, some neighbors could have lost part of their houses here.
No one in this area has seen it this devastating. that's not regular old "normal" climate change.
I've hiked with the former head scientist for NASA,(& numerous other qualified climate folk), and she / they are all in agreement: even if we really clean up our act now, the planet will warm, do little or nothing, pity the children growing up.
And the severity of winter storms, dry / drought spells, all increasing exponentially.
Fires moving at an acre a second, PNW setting records for snow, hurricanes at Cat 5.
Maybe, just maybe it's real, and happening now.
ss

[zippetydude]

This has been the most topic-wandering thread so far! However, if we can return to the OP, do any locals know if they're still staring at the hole, finishing up the repaving, or somewhere in between?

z

[Wildhorse]

Palmsprings.gov reports damage to the parking lots, the building and the electrical system and says the severely damaged road must be repaired before the parking lot, and then the building and then the electrical system. It would be interesting to know more. I wonder if all of this infrastructure will be rebuilt to withstand the expected weather, or if nothing will improve.

I read that this storm was a category three or four atmospheric river. I think the weather people expect bigger storms to come. Imagine a category five. My understanding is that these storms can last weeks.

The damage on 111 did not look as bad as it apparently is. I drove it a few days ago (the open lanes, that is.)

When the big event comes, I hope to escape by bike. A car will be useless.

[guest]

Zip,
From what I've heard & seen, there's a large excavator working on the road & pipe, and some employees are being helo'd up to the building to work on it.
I've heard some talk of not being re-opened until April, but I'd be real surprised if the tram takes that long, (unless damage is severe).
I'll drop Tram Tim an email & maybe get him to post an update here.

It's all weather / storm damage related info here, just not specific to the tram.
If someone wants to start a storm damage / climate change thread, have at it.
ss