HWY 76 CLOSED BY SNOW

Hwy 76 remains closed tonight at Rincon Ranch Road & at Lake Henshaw, with local residents being allowed in a East Grade only.

Which means that many Palomar Mountain people are not being allowed to get home without driving the long way around through Ramona or Temecula.

Snow levels down to the 1,500 foot mark are wreaking havoic, causing accidents and even trees are across some parts of the road.

Here's the latest from Sheriff's Lt. Sean Gerrity:

"Last report I just received is that we have trees falling down across Hwy 76, and they keep falling faster than we can clean them up (ice & snow is bringing them down). CHP is now closing the Henshaw-side access to everyone. They are working on moving the west side closure from Rincon Ranch Road to South Grade Road, and allow resident access there. For the Borrego crowd, they are working on allowing them up Palomar via South Grade, and back down East Grade back onto Hwy 76, but they will have to have chains if we are able to do this. Unfortunately, they won't be able to drive through any trees on Highway 76. Black ice is forming, too, to top everything else off."