“Super Bloom” crushes force California city to say no more

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A small California town that was overrun by visitors four years ago when torrential winter rains produced a “super bloom” of wild poppies has a message to the public after this year’s deluge: Don’t come. You could be arrested.

The poppies are beginning to bloom, but on a small scale so far — and the ravine where they’re growing and parking lots are now totally closed, Lake Elsinore Mayor Natasha Johnson said at a news conference detailing the chaos of 2019 reported.

“The flowers were beautiful; The scene was a nightmare,” Johnson said.

Poppies are found throughout California during the spring and summer, but aren’t typically as widespread as the gold blankets that covered the hillsides near Lake Elsinore, a city of 71,000 people in Riverside County about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles, in 2019 .

The focus of the excessive attention was Walker Canyon, a natural area with a hiking trail just off the busy Interstate 15.

“Back in 2019, there were numerous security incidents on the trail and on our roads,” Johnson said. “Tens of thousands of people, up to 100,000 in a weekend – Disneyland-sized crowds – wanting to experience nature trampled on the very habitat they valued so highly and wanted to enjoy.”

People parked their cars illegally along the freeway and neighborhoods were so deadlocked that parts of the city were essentially severed, affecting emergency services and residents’ ability to get to shops and work, Johnson said.

People waited in lines for hours to see the canyon and many were unprepared for the hike, resulting in injuries.

Craig Palmer, Lt. the California Highway Patrol, said the agency has already begun saturation patrols in the area and that highway patrols should only be used in emergency situations.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco warned that there will be no tolerance for parking violations and the result could be a subpoena, vehicle towing or worse.

“It’s a misdemeanor and you can be arrested and put in jail,” Bianco said.

The mayor said Lake Elsinore normally welcomes visitors, but the 2019 phenomenon has come at too high a cost for residents.

“This weekend I encourage you to focus on the Super Bowl and not the super bloom that we don’t have,” she said.

John Antczak, The Associated Press

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