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Crown King hammered by weekend storms


The Crown King Road was littered with boulders and mud after the heavy rains moved the landscape down the hill. Courtesy Yavapai County Emergency Management
7/17/2012 2:24:00 PM

 By Jon Hutchinson

 CROWN KING -- Crown King Road is impassable after the heavy weekend monsoon storms dumped more than six inches of rainfall on the barren hills around Crown King. The resort community has been dormant already since the Gladiator Fire scorched the surrounding landscape. The access road was covered in bolder debris after the heavy rains moved the landscape down the hill. The Crown King Road was littered with boulders and mud.

Emergency Management Coordinator Denny Foulk reported that he was doing a survey of conditions Saturday and just barely got past mile marker 24 when the boulders came off the hill. The rubble did pin another vehicle behind him.

Another landslide came off he hill at mile marker 26.

The county road department says the artery will remain closed due to repairs. It is expected the repair work will be ongoing for the remainder of the week. The U.S. Mail is getting through to Crown King and local residents are being allowed access at certain times of the day under escort. Otherwise, the road is closed to the general public until cleared and deemed safe to travel.

The specific affected road closure area is between Cleator and the Poland Creek Bridge on Crown King Road.

Foulk says recently installed gauges in the nearby Black Canyon Creek rose from 4- to 8-feet over a short period time Saturday.

Residents were warned that the approaching monsoon storms could cause severe mud and rockslides since the Crown King area was burned-over by the Gladiator Fire and vulnerable to

A burned area reclamation is just about to begin to restore vegetation that is holds the soil in place.

Above Flagstaff, mudslides from the eroded Schultz Pass Fire area flooded homes repeatedly in a similar situation in the past year, until a new drainage was created.


 

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