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By now, Big Sur’s severing from the outside world has unnerved even locals who are used to recurring plunges into isolation.

“It’s not a unique situation for us to be shut off,” said Kirk Gafill, the owner of Nepenthe, a cliffside restaurant that’s operated in Big Sur for nearly 70 years.

He recalled past mudslides on Highway 1 that had closed the Central Coast hideaway between Carmel and San Simeon for 10 weeks.

“But this one is so different because now we’re in week 20,” he said late last week. “The timeline is just epic.”