Highway 50 could reopen by early evening

Highway 50 could reopen by this afternoon, somewhere between 4-7 p.m., after a mudside near Riverton shut down the road, a Caltrans spokeswoman said.

While the road is closed, it is open all the way to Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort for westbound traffic and Pollock Pines for eastbound traffic.

The mudslide, reported at about 2 a.m., is about 500 feet wide and about a foot deep. It was caused by an overflowing irrigation flume, Caltrans spokeswoman Shelly Chernicki said. No injuries were reported. Several dump trucks are at the slide site removing the debris.

The El Dorado Irrigation District has said that a tree knocked down the flume, causing the ground to become unstable.

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