number
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Posted on 01/05/2008 8:07:33 AM PST by BenLurkin
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS) ― A broken levee has caused a flooding which stranded as many as 4,000 residents in Truckee, Calif., a community on I-80 northwest of Lake Tahoe.
Some of the people on the Nevada side of the state line were trying to evacuate, reports CBS affiliate KTVN-TV in Reno.
The storm that pummeled California with gale-force winds and heavy rains was forecast to drop a thick blanket of snow on the Sierra Nevada on Saturday and keep thousands of people from their homes in mudslide-prone areas.
A major highway crossing the Sierra Nevada between Nevada and Northern California had been closed since Friday evening because of the snow.
On the eastern side of the Sierra, a levee broke early Saturday in Nevada's Lyon County and emergency crews were rescuing residents isolated by flooding, KTVN reports.
Up to 44 inches of snow had fallen in some parts of the Sierra Nevada, the National Weather Service said Saturday morning. Forecasters expected the storm to dump as much as 10 feet at higher elevations of the mountain range by Sunday.
Flights were grounded and a major highway was closed as gusts reached 80 mph Friday during the second wave of an arctic storm that sent trees crashing onto houses, cars and roads and cut power from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Central Valley.
"The combined data of rainfall rate, totals and wind makes this the strongest storm since December 16, 2002 and only the 12th storm since 1950," said CBS station KPIX-TV forecaster Roberta Gonzales, citing the Bay Area Storm Index.
Residents in Orange County canyons that were scorched by wildfires last fall, making them susceptible to mudslides, nervously watched weather reports to learn when the winds and showers would give way to the fierce gusts and heavy downpours forecast for the area.
"The rains haven't been too intense over it yet, but it's going to be a stormy night," Ted MacKechnie, a National Weather Service forecaster, said early Saturday.
About 3,000 residents in Williams, Harding, Modjeska and Silverado canyons were told to leave their homes by 7 p.m. Friday, Orange County fire Capt. Mike Blawn said. Deputies drove through the canyons with bullhorns announcing the order as darkness fell.
"We don't take these evacuation orders lightly. We do everything we can to make sure they're necessary," Blawn said. "The thing with debris flows, mudslides and flash floods is that you can't see them coming."
A voluntary evacuation was in effect at an apartment complex northwest of downtown Los Angeles because of flooding and a small mudslide.
Flash flood warnings were issued late Friday for most of Los Angeles County and all of southeastern Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Riverside and San Bernardino counties deployed swift-water rescue teams in case torrential rains brought flash floods and mudslides.
Homeowners in Southern California stacked sandbags and hay bales around their homes while residents in the low-lying areas of the Central Valley piled sandbags to barricade their homes from streams and creeks that forecasters warned might swell.
The state opened its emergency operations center Friday morning to coordinate storm response, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he had spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff by phone.
The National Guard said it had personnel on standby, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection dispatched inmate crews in Northern California's Butte, Glenn and Placer counties to clear debris from roadways, spokesman Daniel Berlant said.
The agency also deployed swift-water rescue teams in Butte, Placer and Riverside counties to handle torrential rains that might bring flash floods and mudslides.
In the Sierra National Forest, a frantic daylong search for three missing members of a Clovis family ended just after nightfall when rescuers found them in good condition with three other hikers who had apparently gotten trapped in the woods after the storm hit.
Forecasters expected the storm to dump as much as 10 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada, where a blizzard warning was downgraded Friday evening to a winter storm warning.
Lake Tahoe was forecast to get between 1 to 2 feet of snow, and the Sierra foothills could get some light accumulation when a third, colder storm moves into the region Saturday.
"It's going to be a mess for travelers," said Chris Smallcomb, a weather service meteorologist. "We expect the road conditions will be hazardous if not impossible."
Friday evening, the California Department of Transportation closed Interstate 80 across the Sierra, the main east-west link between Northern California and Nevada.
The Red Cross set up a 200-bed shelter in Truckee for stranded motorists, as well as a shelter in Butte County.
Air travelers saw their flight plans put on hold when airlines delayed or canceled flights in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area.
About 600,000 people from the Bay Area to the Central Valley were in the dark early Saturday, down from about 1.5 million the day before. Crews worked to restore power, but it could be days before all the lights are on, Pacific Gas & Electric officials said.
Howling winds, pelting rain and heavy snow took its heaviest toll Friday on Northern California, where trucks flipped on interstates.
The huge storm also toppled trees and cut power to thousands of residents in Washington and Oregon.
Here in the southern San Joaquin Valley, we got a lot of bluster, but it appears we’ve gotten less than a 1/10th of an inch of rain. Just over the hill in Ojai, they got over 5 inches. Go figure.
Up here in the North SJ Valley the wind was fierce with a bunch of rain, but it looks like the antenna is still on the roof. Thought we were going to lose it this time.
Am I the first this time?
number
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PRIVATE REPLY button is your/our friend.
Just glad I had set the coffee cup down by the time "it" came in to view.....
I think CBS got the story horribly wrong. The broken levee is in Fernley, NV, about 30 miles east of Reno. Here’s the story from Fox:
FERNLEY, Nev. — Helicopters were rescuing Nevada residents from rooftops on Saturday after a levee broke, sending three feet of freezing water into hundreds of homes and endangering thousands.
Some 3,500 people were being evacuated in 26-degree weather as emergency crews worked to rescue the stranded and find the missing when a 30-foot section of the levee broke along the Truckee Canal at 4:30 a.m. .
There have been no reported injuries but officials issued a flash flood warning.
The levee was supporting a canal that was used to divert water to different farms. Chuck Allen, the public information officer for the Nevada Department of Public Safety, said the canal is fairly large.
Upwards of 800 homes were affected and at least 3,500 people were being evacuated, making up 10 percent of the town of Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno.
Evacuees were being sheltered at Fernley High School.
Dozens of emergency personnel were responding.
Wrong state...This occurred in Nevada.
OH, thank you, thank you WAAY too much, but uh, modesty, yeah, modesty, that’s it, prevents me from accepting this award. And besides, I’m refusing to accept it to protest the shameful government treatment of Native Anglo Germans throughout our history.
&*$# global warming again!
NV... Dingy Harry’s fault!
And that goes for you also.
I do hereby solemnly promise I will only send the “photo” by private mail and not public reply so as to spare all person’s, innocent or not, the ravages of undue eye/brain strain. This will henceforth be known as the “MY EYES, OH MY EYES” amendment.
Since Truckee, California is at 6700 feet, I doubt very much if any broken levees are a problem there.
Try Fernley, Nevada, about 30 miles east of Reno on Hwy 80...
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