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Snowstorm Endangers Northern California Mountain Residents

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By AARON C. DAVIS, The Associated Press

Published: January 6, 2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A dangerous layer of heavy snow covered the Northern California mountains Saturday as a major storm continued pummeling the West Coast.

Thousands of homes and businesses had been blacked out in California, Oregon and Washington and thousands of residents had been told to leave their homes in mudslide-prone areas of Southern California. The mandatory evacuation orders later were lifted, but residents were urged to stay away from their homes.
Avalanche warnings were posted for the backcountry of the central Sierra Nevada, and flash-flood warnings were in effect for many areas of Southern California, where large swaths of hillsides had been denuded by the fall's wildfires.

Remote sensors and ski areas in the high Sierra Nevada had recorded up to 5 feet of snow since Friday morning, and the west side of the Lake Tahoe Basin already had 4 to 5 feet by Friday night, the National Weather Service office in Reno, Nev., said Saturday.

Rain and wind from the third storm in as many days arrived in California's capital before the last one finished dumping snow in the mountains.

As much as 9 feet of snow was possible in the Sierra by today.

"Attempting to travel in the Sierra will put your life at risk," the weather service warned.

Flights were grounded Friday and trucks overturned in Northern California as wind gusted to 80 mph during the second wave of the arctic storm that has sent trees crashing onto houses, cars and roads. The National Weather Service recorded gusts of up to 165 mph on mountaintops northwest of Lake Tahoe on Friday.

"If you take the wind gusts, the snowfall and all of it together, it's definitely one of the biggest storms we've experienced in a number of years," said weather service meteorologist Scott McGuire.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski declared a state of emergency for Umatilla County because of wind damage.

As the storm moved east, whiteout conditions and up to 4 feet of snow were forecast in the Colorado mountains. High wind overturned a tractor-trailer rig in Colorado Springs, briefly closing Interstate 25. Later, multiple accidents closed eastbound Interstate 70 just east of Vail.

At least one death was blamed on the storm, a woman killed by a falling tree in Oregon.

In Southern California, residents of Orange County canyons that were stripped by wildfires last fall - making them susceptible to mudslides - nervously watched weather reports to learn when they might be hit by the fierce wind and heavy downpours forecast for the area.

About 3,000 people in four canyons had been told to leave their homes by 7 p.m. Friday, Orange County fire Capt. Mike Blawn said. But there was no indication of how many obeyed, and mandatory evacuation orders later were lifted. "We have been hearing that very small percentage of them actually evacuated," Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion said.

In one of the four canyons, Modjeska, thick mud coated roads Saturday as Gene Corona, 72, used a shovel to repair erosion in a channel he had dug to carry water away from his home.

"I made the rounds last night, every hour on the hour, whenever stuff started breaking through," he said. "I saved my house. It's my home, and insurance doesn't cover mudslides."

Flash-flood warnings were in effect Saturday for broad swaths of Southern California.

In the Sierra Nevada, the California Department of Transportation said Interstate 80, the main east-west link between Northern California and Nevada, was reopened Saturday, but tire chains were mandatory on a 60-mile stretch. While the highway was shut down during the night, the Red Cross set up a 200-bed shelter in Truckee for stranded motorists.

More than 450,000 homes and businesses from the Bay Area to the Central Valley were in the dark early Saturday, down from more than 1.6 million the day before. It could be days before all the lights are back on, Pacific Gas & Electric officials said.

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