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Latest as of today not looking too good:

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BajaNomad Forums - "Peace, Love & Fish Tacos"

San Vicente(~40 miles south of Ensenada) Bridge out:

Jack Swords posted on 1-23-2010 at 02:13

Well, here we are again in La Paz and bridges washed out on the highway back home. In 1979 the same thing happened and we crossed over at Laguna Chapala and went home through San Felipe. This part of Baja is in the rain shadow and doesn't get the same impact from heavy rains. And...that way is greatly improved since 1979. We did check at the ranch next to the dry lake and confirmed it was "no problema". So it looks like that may be our alternative this time too. The dry lake was full of water then and we had no problem driving up from La Paz by this route. We'll wait a few days, gather info, then head back home via Puertecitos.

A possible way to detour around the washed-out bridges in northern Baja; a very long, very rough route.

BajaCactus posted on 1-22-2010 at 10:09

Hi everyone,

I do not know if this information is already here, if so I apologize in advance.

There are several places of Highway 1 impassable at the moment, due to the heavy rains:

-- The bridge at Las Animas has collapsed.
-- The bridge at San Vicente was also affected.
-- Apparently, the bridge at Colonet has also been damaged.
-- The bridge in Col. Guerrero is damaged.
-- The bridge in El Rosario has partially collapsed... many stranded people south of it... food supplies are being delivered with ropes over it.

Normal communications with the San Quintin area are unavailable at the moment... no phone services, no cellular, no internet (only Movistar services are available in some areas). TelNor and Telcel have dispatched technicians via air to attempt repairs.

Even though crew repairs have been sent to repair the road, it seems they are working their way from the North, therefore there have been no time frames mentioned for completion... I do not know, but common sense would suggest that the water flowing in those rivers has to subside before attempting repairs... this could delay the repair crews.

If you plan to travel to Baja in the next days, it would be wise to wait a little bit and see how things develop.

Hope this info is helpful.

Antonio Munoz
BajaCactus

BajaCactus posted on 1-23-2010 at 02:25 AM

My friends,

I just saw some very impressive video images on the local news in Tijuana (Jan 22, 18:00) about the bridge in San Vicente...it has a part totally collapsed (no bridge at all) and the water is still flowing very high on that river... it seems unlikely they will have a pass on that place soon... not until the water comes down quite a bit.

Many people stranded in between the towns of San Vicente and Col. Guerrero... they cannot move forward or backwards... not enough food or water in the small villages...it is really bad down there.

El Rosario and San Quintín are still on a communications blackout... only Movistar cellular services seem to be working in some parts.

Government authorities say they are on site, with the appropriate machinery to conduct repairs, just waiting for waters to come down and be able to work.

Again, double check your itinerary if you are planning to come to Baja soon... better to wait in home than on the road or a hotel.

Antonio Muñoz
BajaCactus

BajaCactus posted on 1-23-2010 at 04:09

It seems the repair crews sent by air to correct the communications blackout have been successful.

The San Quintín area electricity has been restored (at least in most places) and also phone and cellular services are working again... internet services as well.

Bridges are still out... they kept receiving a lot of rain last night down there and therefore the creeks and rivers are still high in water... repair crews cannot begin to work until they come down.

The bridge in El Rosario is still down and the water on that river bed is high... many people stranded on the south side... water and food supplies are still being crossed on buckets and ropes to help the people on that side.

Things are slowly getting back to normal... Having electricity and a way to communicate with the area is a huge relief... now we have to wait for nature to cooperate.

Antonio Munoz
BajaCactus

El Rosario Bridge "taken on Jan 23rd, at 7:30 am."

Wow! Looks like we had it easy out here on the beach. Good thing we have a small solar system, reliable generator, lots of gas, water and supplies. I suppose I will catch up on my reading and maybe a little fishing once the surf calms down...

Just a thought, many years ago when we use to go down ... no cell phones, no phones, no bridges.. no internet... old style Baja travel.. but, fun.. tent camping, no showers, no hook ups, and bring it with you and drive real careful.. no AAA and not too many others to help out.. and yes we were driving cars not carts and horses

Originally Posted by wessongroup

Just a thought, many years ago when we use to go down ... no cell phones, no phones, no bridges.. no internet... old style Baja travel.. but, fun.. tent camping, no showers, no hook ups, and bring it with you and drive real careful.. no AAA and not too many others to help out.. and yes we were driving cars not carts and horses

The good old days, eh?

Drove to town today to survey the damage. Lots of folks 2 feet under water. Only a couple of stations selling gasoline and all with long lines. The two stops that sell propane south of Lazaro Cardenas both closed. Long lines at the grocery stores with folks stocking up. We did a bit of our own.

Talked to a friend that is a Federale de Camino and he confirms that there are currently four bridges out:

1. South of Ensenada
2. San Vicente
3. Vicente Guerrero
4. El Rosario

The bridge south of San Quintin at Los Pinos is reduced to one lane on one side but is passable. He guesses that traffic should be able to start moving through Monday afternoon earliest, Tuesday at latest.

Stay home if you can...

Thanks for the update.. even though it is not a happy one... sorry to hear about all the folks "toughing" it out.. guess that was what I was trying say before.. that's how it's been for these folks most always.. a hardy lot able to "get er done" though...

Was going to take the wife down that away this month, but illness forced us to postpone the trip.. looks like I got lucky

This as I was going to be going down, not as I used to go 40 plus years ago.. fully prepared.. was going to take sleeping bags and a couple of gallons of water.. and snacks.. stay in motels/hotels

Just take a drive down the "highway" as it was all so new and easy..

Was reading about how one could make it to Mulege in 12 hours from San Diego

Looks like some times I get lucky..

We are staying home.. for a while at least..

Slideshow

Two days ago, on Friday, I tried to go south from San Felipe through Puertecitos, Gonzaga and connect to Hwy 1 in Chapala. The road 2 miles from Hwy 1 over the dried lakebed was definitely NOT passable at the time. A 200 meter section was narrowed down to less than a car width and there was a section 10 meters long that was completly washed out. You would have to bypass this by driving along side of the old road but the mud was knee deep and impassable until it dries. Can anybody confirm if and when it becomes passable? I sit here now in San Felipe waiting to get south.

Thanx for that report, and ,
jetboy.

Excellent info about something I'm sure a lot are interested in.

I bet creating bypasses through the rivers will be the best bet for getting traffic running again.

There are piles and piles of tourists, trucks, locals, buses, etc... that are stuck at the washed-out bridges and have to proceed from there first. Why jump right into the middle of that when it will be better very soon after?.

I think the best advice I've read is to wait wherever you are until a day or two after reports of traffic moving come in.

Originally Posted by Gruñón

...some models say is as big as the last one...

Negative. Here's the hydrologic issued last night 910 PM PST:
National Weather Service - NWS San Diego

"......ANOTHER ROUND OF RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW EARLY NEXT WEEK
FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA...

AFTER A WEEKEND OF FAIR WEATHER...ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL
MOVE INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND BRING ADDITIONAL PRECIPITATION
EARLY NEXT WEEK. ALTHOUGH NOT ON THE SAME SCALE AS THE STORMS OF THE
PAST WEEK...

...IN THE COASTAL AREAS AND INLAND VALLEYS...THE TOTAL RAINFALL WITH THIS
SYSTEM COULD RANGE FROM ONE HALF TO ONE INCH. ON THE COASTAL
SLOPES AND FOOTHILLS...TOTALS COULD RANGE FROM ONE TO THREE
INCHES. RAINFALL RATES WILL MOSTLY BE LESS THAN ONE QUARTER OF AN
INCH PER HOUR BUT RATES OF UP TO ONE INCH PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE
DURING BRIEF HEAVY SHOWERS.

WITH THE GROUND ALREADY SATURATED...MOST OF THE RAINFALL WILL BECOME
RUNOFF AND RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT FLOW IN MANY SMALLER WATERWAYS.
THIS SYSTEM WILL NOT BE AS COLD AS RECENT STORMS SO THE SNOW LEVEL
WILL BE MOSTLY ABOVE 5500 FEET AND THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS COULD
RECEIVE NEARLY A FOOT OF NEW SNOW. WITH THE SNOW LEVEL HIGHER...RAIN
COULD FALL ON AREAS WITH SNOW STILL ON THE GROUND. THIS WILL ADD
TO THE RUNOFF AND COULD CAUSE SOME URBAN AND SMALL STREAM
FLOODING..."

Here's last storm's totals:
National Weather Service - NWS San Diego

They say it's "...PROVISIONAL DATA FROM AUTOMATED GAUGES.
THIS DATA HAS NOT BEEN SCREENED OR VERIFIED..." but by comparison with neighboring stations it appears accurate.

Last storm was around 4-6" on the coast and about 8-11" in the mountains all diminishing north-to-south. Same direction of travel for this next one.

So they are currently calling for 1/4 or less rainfall than the last with this next storm, but with the ground soaked every bit of rain will have a much bigger effect on the rivers.

Sorry about the caps; I ain't retyping all that.

The worst of this last storm hit us with winds from the S-SW; a direction which historically hits us hard. The storm on Tuesday is not projected to duplicate that last I heard...

Regardless of what models who follows, the bottom line is that even with less additional rainfall, the flooding potential will be greater because the ground is already saturated, so virtually everything that falls will result in surface flooding.....after typing I then forced myself through all those CAPS up there to discover that's exactly what it says up above! So call me redundant!

photo credits: Nick Molatore

Wow; looks like they are going to backfill/compact that whole area to meet up with the still-good rest of the bridge. Wonder how they diverted the flow from that area?

just met some people who said that it is possible to now pass on the south road from san felipe through puertocitos and gonzaga to chapala - its a tough pass through 2 miles from chapala but several cars have done it. im gonna make a go for it in the morning

Originally Posted by jetboy911

just met some people who said that it is possible to now pass on the south road from san felipe through puertocitos and gonzaga to chapala - its a tough pass through 2 miles from chapala but several cars have done it. im gonna make a go for it in the morning

Good luck; I'm betting if you're careful no problems.

Just rough, slow, and muddy.

Originally Posted by Marty Cortez

photo credits: Nick Molatore

What the heck!!? A photo credit?

I remember being stuck in the Camp Ground there Vicente Guerrero just down the road at the RV Park owned by Jaime Ferrer back in the 90's I got to stay a extra week and miss some school I thought it was awesome back then, lol. Typical teenage thoughts though no school and stuck in Baja how could it get better? Well it didn't we couldn't get to Costa Brava due to the bridge being washed out and thats where we left the boat at are property the day before the storm. So fishing my favorite thing was out of the question but I made the best of it beach combing from the river mouth to San Quintin on my four wheeler.

We had something come up at the last minute yesterday which required our presence in San Diego this morning. I did some checking and based on the word of some friends in Vicente Guerrero and San Vicente we took a chance heading north last night, We were able to cross both rivers at Vicente Guerrero and San Vicente with Vicente Guerrero being the hairiest to cross. If you have some ground clearance and 4X4 it shouldn't be too difficult. Just keep your nerve and don't let off the gas.

We did see a couple of cars that tried it that were stuck with water up to the dash board. They should have paid the 500 pesos for the tractor pull across. Coming back today I found San Vicente a bit easier to cross and Vicente Guerrero about the same amount of water.

It looks like a bridge fix at San Vicente was about ready to open and they hard at work on Vicente Guerrero.

Tonight were just glad to be back home - safe and sound...

Looks like people are making it across the rivers.

BajaCactus posted on 1-25-2010
Open road... Jan 25, 2010 / 3:00pm

San Vicente is reporting they will have a fully functional temporary bridge by tonight.

Col. Guerrero is reporting the same... that they will have a fully functional temporary bridge by tonight.

El Rosario reports it will have a passable road on the river bed within the next 3 hrs.

Antonio Munoz
BajaCactus

BajaNomad Forums - "Peace, Love & Fish Tacos"

BajaGringo posted on 1-26-2010

Cristina and I drove San Quintin - Tijuana yesterday and back today. Not too difficult with a 4X4. There are tractors available if you need it...

They extended the bank out at San Vicente and basically just filled in under the broken section of the bridge. It was fortunate that the section that failed was the one next to the south bank and made such a type repair possible,

They are telling everybody down here now that traffic will be flowing as well across the arroyo at Vicente Guerrero later this afternoon. A lot of equipment there trying to make that happen. An amazing fix if you ask me and a tribute to the spirit of the folks down here.

Vicente Guerrero Arroyo Crossing Set to Open Tuesday Afternoon

If this had happened north of the border it would take them a month just to study the problem and put together a bid package.

Great news for all the folks who are stranded and the region in general needing gasoline, propane and supplies. Some cash for the ATM's would be nice too.

As far as the storm coming in tonight, I have a local fisherman down here who is always spot on with the weather forecasts. Not sure if he gets his forecast from the net, the stars or a crystal ball but I have found him to be much better than anything else I can find.

He tells me that we will get a little rain tonight with a chance through tomorrow morning. Little wind and nothing to worry about.

Promised me he is going fishing tomorrow...