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Rain and Mud Inundate Roads in Desert Town

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Times Wire Services

Thunderstorms lashed this desert city Monday, dumping up to 4 inches of rain in two hours and unleashing mud that stranded cars on the town’s main thoroughfare.

At least four vehicles were trapped by up to 3 feet of mud oozing across California 62 and nearby streets, said Monta Stovall, a dispatcher with the California Highway Patrol in Barstow.

No one was injured. The state Department of Transportation brought in heavy earthmovers to clear the road, Stovall said.

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The CHP closed California 62 between Twentynine Palms and California 177, east on the San Bernardino-Riverside county line. Traffic was detoured to Interstate 10.

A shift in weather patterns brought the monsoonal flow of moist air from the Gulf of California, said Joseph Nemeth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.

“We have a very deep layer of moisture over us,” he said. “This can cause severe flash flooding.”

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