Bridge collapse closes key highway in California near Arizona
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A stretch of cross-country Interstate 10 will remain closed indefinitely in Southern California near the Arizona border after a bridge was washed out during a severe weekend storm, state transportation officials said on Monday.
The eastbound span of the bridge, carrying I-10 over a wash through the Coachella Valley, about 40 miles west of Arizona, gave way on Sunday afternoon, choking traffic along a major truck route, the California Department of Transportation said.
The westbound portion of the highway was closed as well because of heavy rains that had undermined the bridge's ground support, department spokeswoman Terri Kasinga said.
Several alternative routes through the desert area were also closed due to flash flooding, she said, forcing motorists to take lengthy detours that could add hours to their trips.
The department described the bypassed stretch of highway, which runs from California to Florida, as the key "last mile" for tractor-trailers hauling cargo to regional ports, warehouses and distribution centers, carrying some 27,000 vehicles a day.
There was no immediate estimate as to when the interstate would reopen, but the California Highway Patrol said the closure would be "long-term."
Images published on social media showed a pickup truck dangling off the edge of the buckled section of the bridge, which had cracked and tipped into the wash flowing with water below.
Kasinga said the driver of that truck had suffered "moderate" head injuries.
The rare July storm, which reached the Southern California coast as remnants of Tropical Storm Dolores, brought record-setting amounts of rainfall to parts of Los Angeles County, along with unusually high humidity.
July is typically the driest month in Southern California, which sees little rain during the summer.
The storm was welcome in California, which is struggling through a devastating four-year drought that has drained reservoirs, forced irrigation cutbacks by farmers and led to drastic mandatory conservation measures for communities.
The rainfall also brought relief to firefighters grappling with wildfires burning in drought-parched foothills.
A brush fire that erupted in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles, charred more than 3,500 acres over the weekend, forced evacuations ahead of the flames and torched 20 vehicles on another major Southern California freeway as drivers scrambled to safety.
Crews gained control of that blaze after rain began falling on Sunday evening.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Steve Gorman and Susan Heavey)
