Although Caltrans District 3 put out a notice on social media saying a semi-truck blocked both the east and westbound lanes on Highway 32 near Mills Orchard outside of Hamilton City on Wednesday morning, it turns out that flooding was the culprit.
The notice said the incident was reported at 9:36 a.m. Wednesday and a report to California Highway Patrol said the truck attempted to turn around but ended up sideways, blocking the road
By 1 p.m., however, drivers found only residual floodwaters from the overnight storm.
According to the announcement by Caltrans, there was no estimated time for reopening the highway.
Highway 99
Caltrans and CHP reopened Highway 99 north of Chico on Wednesday morning after nearly a day of flooding following a particularly wet storm system.
Road blockades were cleared up around 10:45 Wednesday, and traffic was once again permitted in all lanes.
Flooding could still be seen in the orchards on either side of the freeway between Garner Lane and Keefer Road.
Additionally, there was a brief road blockage reported by CHP earlier Wednesday morning when a semi-truck got stuck along the roadway, but the incident was quickly cleared up.
Rain ahead
The last bout of rain for the week is projected to hit Thursday morning and last into Friday before drying out for the weekend.
A forecast by the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office said to expect rain in both the valley and surrounding foothills as well as the snow level to drop to 2,500 and 4,000 on Friday, with some northern areas such as Shasta County seeing snow levels as low as 2,000 feet.
While the rain is expected to wrap up after Friday, the forecast shows cold morning temperatures from Saturday through Tuesday next week.
According to the forecast, the cold will impact the unhoused population as well as campers.
