Ranch House BBQ toppled by mud

The deluge nearly shut down school today, but we made it, mostly on time. Later in the day, the bad news started pouring in: flooding drains, inaccessible streets, abandoned autos, trapped residents. The worst was yet to come. I was going to head out to Elma tonight for band practice, but I heard that Highway 8 was closed because of a massive mudslide near the Kennedy Creek junction. My stomach flipped. That's the site of one of my all-time favorite area restaurants.

No more.

A mud flow destroyed the Ranch House BBQ off State Route 8 this morning and closed off a section of the highway indefinitely.

“I just lost my whole life,” said Amy Anderson, who has owned the popular restaurant and catering business with partner Melanie Tapia for four years.

Click through to see the horrifying photo.

I hope this isn't the end of Amy Anderson's* barbecue prospects. That would be just too, too sad.

Update 12/10: It's not!

Added: Rick of Olyblog has posted an amazing photo of the flooding at Cooper Point and Black Lake. The traffic lights, at least, blithely keep on changing.




*No relation.