Scary moments as landslide takes out Caltrans truck

A state roads worker was given quite a scare Friday after he was dispatched to clear a mudslide on Highway 1 in Mendocino County and a second slide toppled his dump truck. The unexpected wall of mud poured down a rural hillside around 3 a.m., pushing the truck — and its lone occupant — on its side against a guardrail, leaving the employee fortunately without injury, according to the California Department of Transportation. The rugged stretch of Highway 1 about five miles north of Westport remained closed Friday afternoon while state geologists evaluated how the landslide might be cleaned up. The truck driver was with a maintenance fleet out of Fort Bragg responding to a different slide in the same area when the mud flow struck.