California faces new blizzards, storm flooding across several states

A severe winter storm that swept the West Coast with flooding and freezing temperatures shifted its focus to Southern California on Saturday, filling rivers to dangerous levels and snowing even in low-lying areas around Los Angeles.

The National Weather Service said it was one of the worst storms ever to hit Southern California, and even though wind and rain strength abated, it continued to have a significant impact, including snowfall up to 1,000 feet. The hills around the suburbs of Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, were covered in white, and snow also hit the inner suburbs to the east.

Mountain blizzard warnings continued and flood warnings swept the region, but forecasters offered some relief, predicting the storm would subside later in the day.

More than 117,000 utility customers in California were left without power after days of high winds, downed trees and downed wires, according to PowerOutage.us. And Interstate 5, the West Coast’s main north-south highway, remained closed due to heavy snow and ice at Tejon Pass through the mountains north of Los Angeles.

Multi-day rainfall totals as of Saturday morning included a staggering 81 inches of snow at Mountain High in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles and up to 64 inches farther east in Snow Valley in the San Bernardino Mountains.

“There have already been reports of 2 to 3 feet of rainfall on some of the higher peaks, and we’re expecting an extra foot, maybe two, extra snowfall for the rest of the day,” National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Taylor said.

The Los Angeles River and other waterways that typically trickle or dry up for most of the year raged on Saturday due to runoff. The Los Angeles Fire Department used a helicopter to rescue four homeless people stranded in a large flood control basin. Two were taken to hospital with hypothermia, spokesman Brian Humphrey said.

In the Valencia region of northern Los Angeles County, three motorhomes were swept into the Santa Clara River after an embankment collapsed, according to CBS Los Angeles. No one was inside at the time and no one was hurt, the Los Angeles County Fire Department told CBSLA.

All beaches in Los Angeles County were closed early Saturday morning due to lightning strikes.

“When thunder rumbles, go indoors,” the Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Service said in a statement. tweeted.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center predicts heavy snowfall over the Cascades and Sierra Nevada over the weekend.

The low pressure system is also expected to bring heavy rain and snow to southern Nevada by Saturday afternoon and northwest Arizona Saturday night and Sunday morning, the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office said.

An avalanche warning has been issued for the outlying areas of the Sierra Nevada around Lake Tahoe, which is on the California-Nevada border. Nearly 2 feet of new snow fell by Friday, with up to 5 feet more expected as another storm rolls in with the possibility of gale-force winds and strong gusts on Sunday, according to the weather service.

In Arizona, the heaviest snowfall is expected from late Saturday to Sunday noon, with up to a foot of new snow possible in Flagstaff, forecasters said.

Snow was also forecast over the weekend in parts of the upper Midwest and Northeast, with pockets of freezing rain over parts of the central Appalachians. The storm was expected to reach the central high plains by Sunday evening.

At least three people died as a result of the storm from coast to coast. A Michigan firefighter died Wednesday after coming into contact with a downed power line, and in Rochester, Minnesota, a pedestrian died after being hit by the city’s snowplow. Authorities in Portland, Oregon, said the man died of hypothermia.

More than 350,000 customers in Michigan were without power as of Saturday morning, according to reports from the state’s two major utilities, DTE and Consumers Energy. Both said they hope to have the lights back on for most of their clients by Sunday evening.

Much of Portland has been closed due to icy roads after the city received its second-heaviest snowfall on record this week: nearly 11 inches. While the city had sunny skies and temperatures approaching 40 degrees on Saturday afternoon, the respite and thaw were short-lived. Snow is expected tonight and Sunday.

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