Rockslide in Fresno County: Car-size boulders drop onto Highway 180, block traffic for hours

Massive boulders fell onto Highway 180 on Tuesday during a rockslide in rural Fresno County.

It happened just after 4 p.m. near Dunlap, which is approximately 44 miles east of Fresno and roughly 10 miles from the entrance of Kings Canyon National Park.

California Highway Patrol said the rocks were the size of a small car and blocked parts of Highway 180 at around the 3,000-foot elevation.

No injuries occurred and no vehicles were hit during the rockslide, CHP officer Mike Salas said. In addition, Salas said there did not appear to be any vehicles near the area when the boulders began tumbling onto the roadway just west of Millwood Road.

Traffic was backed up for approximately one hour before Caltrans was able to clear parts of the highway, and establish and control a one-way traffic lane.

The one-lane traffic was expected to last into Wednesday.

At some point Wednesday, all traffic in the area is expected to be shut down so that crews can detonate the boulders and clear the highway, if weather permits, according to CHP.

There was sleet and snow in the area of the rockslide, caused by Tuesday’s storm that passed through the central San Joaquin Valley.

The storm front left behind high rainfall totals in the Valley, and it was predicted that 6 to 8 feet of snow would fall in higher portions of the Sierra near Yosemite National Park.

As a result, the weather service issued a caution for those who must travel in higher regions.