This global warming issue is getting serious: West Coast Snow Prompts Emergency
By JESSE McKINLEY and MARIA NEWMAN
SAN FRANCISCO — Snow continued to pile up in the Sierra Nevada on Sunday, where at least five feet had fallen from a storm that contributed to flooding in Fernley, Nev., killing at least three people and leaving thousands without power.
Residents all across the West Coast struggled to dig out from a thumping winter storm system that delivered snow and several inches of rain , leaving communities without power and with damage to structures in several counties and several states.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California declared emergencies in three counties hit hard by the storms, and Gov. Ted Kulongoski of Oregon declared a state of emergency for one county that had severe wind damage.
Gov. Jim Gibbons of Nevada declared an emergency in one county that includes Fernley and the Federal Emergency Management Agency planned to survey the damage on Monday.
On Saturday, a 30-foot section of canal wall collapsed in Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno, after a day’s rain, unleashing a flood of storm-drainage water into some 500 homes, said Chuck Allen of the Nevada Department of Public Safety. The authorities used helicopters and fire trucks to evacuate some 3,500 people as workers attempted to close off the canal, which had spilled about 3 feet of water into a local subdivision.
In the mountains east of Los Angeles, authorities continued their search today for a 62-year-old man who went hiking Friday just before the storm began, San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire told The Associated Press. The man used his cell phone Friday to report he had lost his sense of direction in fog, but searchers last had cell phone contact with him early Saturday.
Forecasters predicted more rain and snow Sunday, but without the severity of the weather that has pounded the three-state region for three days.
Winter storm warnings remained in effect for some mountainous areas and the main highway through the Sierra Nevada was closed during the night. Residents were warned of possible mudslides in parts of rain-soaked Southern California where slopes had been denuded by the fall’s wildfires.
One hiker was missing in snow-covered mountains in Southern California, and four snowmobilers were missing in heavy snow in the mountains of southern Colorado.
In Northern California, some 220,000 homes and businesses were still without power Sunday as crews struggled to access rural areas, where gale-force winds had downed power lines and uprooted trees as the first of two powerful Pacific storms blew through on Friday. .A second storm Saturday afternoon caused new power failures, particularly along the northern coast of California, Pacific Gas and Electric said.
Snow was the concern in the Sierra Nevada, where a 54-mile stretch of Interstate 80 from east of Sacramento to the Nevada state line was closed for 15 hours.
The only vehicles allowed were gravel trucks and graters working to remove what is known as “Sierra cement,” the type of thick, clumpy snow that can play havoc with tire treads and drivers’ nerves.
Jesse McKinley contributed reporting from San Francisco, Maria Newman from New York, William Yardley from Seattle and Jennifer Steinhauer from Southern California. |
